The Taylor Swift Hunger Games
by THE GIRL IN THE DRESS 127
Summary: Taylor Swift goes into the hunger games with her amazing singing as a weapon! Will she survive?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Some people know that I have a passion for both Taylor Swift and the hunger games! So why not put 'em together?! Let me know what you you think**

**about it! Thx! I love you all (especially Izz the wolf 3)!**

I woke with a jolt; my brother, Liam, crying again. To be fair it's his first reaping today, but_ I_ never cried _this_ much.

"Taylor!" he whined and grabbed me by the waist. His hands and face were damp with tears. The bed we shared had a little wet patch where he wet himself.

"Not again!" I groaned "C'mon, Liam, you're twelve! You should know what to do!" I moaned while stripping the bed and dumping the urine-stained sheets in the sink. I ran the hot tap and chucked a bar of soap in. "Another bad dream?"

He nodded solemnly. "It was me, Taylor, they chose me." I grabbed his shoulders.

"Liam," I said, sternly, yet softly "My name is in 46 times. Your name is in there 6 times. What're the odds?" I told him. I wiped his face and began washing the dirty sheets. It was my sixth reaping this year, so yes, I'm seventeen. I only have one more to go after that. Then it's Liam's turn to 'honour' the family with a chance of 46 of getting murdered. Violently.

I finished washing the sheets and went outside to hang them up to dry. When I was out there Cameron, my cousin, walked past "Hey T-Swizzle! Good luck in the reaping! I hope you die violently!" He joked.

"Not funny!" I stuck my tongue out at him; He stuck his tongue out at me. That's pretty much how all our conversations go. He was a lucky boy. He was nineteen, so he couldn't go into the hunger games again; he had all the girls he wanted and he lived in the victors village with his girlfriend, Vanessa, who won 2 years ago, when she was my age.

I went back inside and grabbed my guitar and my favourite pick. I sat on a rusty chair outside our worn-out cottage and strummed along to my favourite song (that I wrote!). I was currently writing a song called "mean" that was written about the careers from district four last year, because they ate their 'prey'. I found it more than disturbing. I'm from district one (a career district), which is the district that enriches the capitol with music and new foods. I am a talented musician; so of course, I work in the music department. My father works at the food tech buildings, and my brother, Liam sits at home with my mother and Mary (my toddler-sister) learning how to read and wright.

District two is another Career district. Their job is to wright books and teach the capitol literature.

District four is the last career district. Their job is to "produce young geniuses who can enrich the capitol with their knowledge and intellect." – A quote from the 'book of Panem history' that we read at school.

I feel sorry for district three. They're sort of…abandoned, as the careers go one, two then four- completely missing out three. They're always the first to die. Unlike us, from one.

I couldn't think of any good words to wright for the song, though and I was worried I had writer's block. I bet district two have that all the time.

I decided to do something simple with all the spare time I had until the reaping, so I got changed into a white dress and slipped on my white pumps- the ones with the bows on the ends. I tied my curly, blonde hair back into a pony tail and looked in the mirror. My eyes were okay, I guess. They were blue, and I'd covered my plain, blonde eyelashes in mascara. My mouth was curvy, my mother always said I had a nice smile, but she had to say that- she's my mum. I hated my nose though. The way it curved at the end. Everyone said it was cute, but I try to not keep it in the convocation. My skin was pale and clear, so I didn't need foundation. Not yet, anyway. I walked outside, into the streets of district one, where I found myself taking me to the victor's village. I'd never asked for help before, I was always completely independent, but my name was entered more times and the question kept stabbing at me: "what should I do?"

I knocked- banged- on the most trust-worthy house of all: Jennifer's. She opened the door and immediately smiles grew, simultaneously on both our faces "How good to see you! Come in Taylor!" she beckoned me into her amazingly furnished living room. I sat down on a beautiful, rose-patterned sofa "so, tell me what you need." She said, still smiling.

"I need to know," I started "what technique I should use if I end up going to the games."

There was a long pause as she sat, staring into space, then she shook her head, to escape the daze and answered me "In the cornucopia, run as fast as you can to something. If you see something you would be skilled at- take it. Don't let any other person get it. Taylor, Taylor Swift, you should look deep into your heart and find what you need there, then bring it back into reality. Take what you know you'll be good at." She told me.

"That's a bit…cliché…" I thought to myself.

"Thanks," I said, nodding like one of those stupid nodding dog toys. Ugh, they annoy me.

I got up to leave, but before I could, she grabbed my hand "Taylor, good luck." She nodded (like a stupid nodding dog.)

I enjoyed walking through the victor's village. It reminded me of how I could win if I really tried.

I walked through town, my guitar slung across my back, humming myself a familiar tune (that I wroteJ), when I passed Joe and his idiot group of chavs. Some no-brainer girls twisted their hair round their fingers and batted their eyelashes at him. He seemed 'cool' to them. He winked at me and I gave him a look. He was so annoying. The girls all shot me the evil-eyes for a second, but then went back to being brain dead. Was I the only normal girl in district one? They tittered along behind Joe and disappeared off, their lip-glossy, fake personalities draining from view.

"Was it just me or could you feel your IQ dropping as they came nearer?" someone asked from behind me. I turned around and my face lit up to see Harry. His name stayed in the air for a few seconds, hovering in my mind as I took him into account. His shining eyes, curly brown hair and cute, boyish smile. My best friend. He was a few years younger than me, but he was still a lot taller. Before I took into account what I was doing, I found myself pressed against him in a bear hug. He patted me on the head and said in a jokey was "don't be stupid in the reaping." I didn't really understand what he meant, but I nodded anyway. We walked back to my house together, where we parted with a fist-punch. I figured I was a lot more boyish when I wore a dress. Don't know why though.

I got in and changed into my reaping clothes quickly, before my parents noticed. Liam was _gelling_ his hair. It was weird…

I got changed into another white dress, but this one had tiny pink flowers on it and lace around the waist. I wore a pearl necklace and undid my hair, but clipped the frond bits back behind my head. I applied a layer of beautiful pink lipstick and mascara. If I was going to be reaped, I might as well do it in a fresh layer of lippy- luxurious capitol lipstick. My mother took one look at me and her eyes watered up.

"It seems only yesterday when our little Taylor was dressing up in my high heels and pearls. Now she has her own." She cried a bit. I rolled my eyes.

"Here we go again" I thought. I sighed and patted my mum's shoulders. I led her to the door, where she got herself together and we all walked out together. Liam and I dawdled behind mum and dad, we always did on the reaping days. He squeezed my hand and I stroked the back of his hand with my thumb, reassuringly.

We got nearer and nearer, and each step I took, my shoe seemed to stick more to the pavement. I walked up to a peace keeper and got my blood print taken before I went in, then it was Liam's turn. He seemed calm, but I could easily tell he was panicking on the inside. As soon as he was through the gate, I hugged him tightly and told him where to meet me afterwards; then we parted into our separate groups.

Unluckily, I ended up in between two brain-dead prissy girls. I was 'Taylor Swift' so I ended up between 'Fran Summer' and 'Charlotte Syrah' – two of the most idiotic girls I had ever heard. They were squealing and jumping up and down, as if they were nursery children and it was 'show and tell'. Myra Erann strutted onto stage like a capitol citizen with leg cancer. Her legs were way too long for her body and her hair was bright purple. I'm not even joking. It was _purple_. _Purple._

Everyone immediately fell silent except the girls next to me, who were still squealing. Everyone was staring. I had a massive face-palm right there, on the spot. They both got the message and shut up quickly. Myra began her long…long speech about Panem and the dark days…bla. She gave the name of the mentor this year and to my surprise, it was Jennifer. I don't know where it came from, but I had a sudden need to be in the games. I wanted to be a tribute for some reason. Was I just accepting my death? No. It's because I wanted to prove to Joe that I could be strong and a girl at the same time. That or I wanted a big house.

She eventually stopped hissing on (stupid capitol accents- I'm sure you know all about them.) about the history of Panem, as If we hadn't all heard it every year of our lives over and over again. She finally said "Ehem, so shall we chose our tributes?" She walked up to the girl's bowl first and reached in. Her hand swam in the pool of names, building the tension up and up. She picked a name and un-folded it with her perfectly manicured nails and read out the name. "Fran Summer". The girl next to me. I was kind of sad that it wasn't me for some reason, but I never imagined I would do what I did next. Before she could even make a step, everyone turned at stared at me. For a second I didn't know why, but then I realized that "I volunteer" were the strange words that came out of my mouth. The words were strangers to me. I suddenly realized what Harry meant when he said "don't be stupid." I was stupid, wasn't I.

I took a breath and walked up confidently, peacekeepers to my left and my right. My hair fell in front of my eyes. I looked into the crowd, who looked back at me, up until the moment when Myra picked the boy's name. Harry was still staring at me. So was Liam. So was Fran. So was Joe. I felt like a puppy- everyone gaping at me. Harry's mouth opened in disbelief. I wanted to mouth "shut your mouth" to him, but I was on camera, so I decided to stand still. A boy walked up onto stage who had too long hair to recognise, but he looked vaguely familiar. He looked at me through his long, brown fringe.

"And that ends the district one reaping, here are our tributes: Taylor Swift and Edward Vincenzo!" we shook hands and Myra walked off stage too enthusiastically and ended up flat on her face. She got up as if nothing happened and continued to walk off, proudly. We waited for peacekeepers to take us to the justice building.

Edward Vincenzo… it sounded familiar. He looked a few years younger than me, he slouched and his bangs covered his face. I couldn't recognise him no matter how hard I tried.

Jeff Akers (everyone called him Ace for some reason, though), the pervertish head peace keeper took me into the room where I say goodbye to my family. He touched me in an _inappropriate_ place so I slapped his hand. He gestured to his gun and I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn't stop him anymore, but he didn't touch me again, so I figured he got the message.

He locked me in a room with nothing but a window and a sofa. The sofa was no different from the one at home: brown and uncomfortable. I sat on the arm of the sofa, like I always did at home. Some people might have sat there crying their eyes at whilst their family sobbed over them, but I found myself more than happy to go in.

My family were the first to visit me. Liam, mother, father and Mary. Liam was the first to hug me. He put his arms around me, just like he did this morning. "I'm not going to say goodbye because I know I'll see you again." He looked at me with tearful eyes "You're coming back Taylor. It's just like writing a song."

"How?" I asked

"You'll figure it out soon enough." I kissed his forehead. Next was mother. She put her hands on my shoulders

"We're proud of you, Taylor" she said. She had to be one of the only parents to ever say that to a daughter who is about to (probably) die. My father nodded along to her words. Mary hugged my legs and I lifted her onto her lap. Her curly locks smelt like lemons and butter. Like home.

For the next five minutes the world looked blurred through the tears welling in my eyes, but the tears weren't for me, they were for my family. They'll be so worried. They won't cope. I don't know how I could have been so stupid. We shared kisses and hugs, then the moment came when I had to watch the last part of my family leave the room.

Harry came next.

"Taylor, you are so stupid." He shook his head at me. "You're arrogant, idiotic, dangerous, but most of all you're amazing, Taylor." That surprised me.

I put my arms around his neck and we hugged for ages. His breaths felt like butterflies on the back of my neck. When the peace keeper came to take him away he patted me on the head and said "don't be stupid, Tay." I hate it when he says that, but at the same time, I love it.

No one else loved me enough to visit me. I was taken to a car where Edward was already sitting, looking calmly out of the window. He looked at me with a face much abused with tears. He tried to hide it though. I sat opposite him in the car.

Myra joined us a few seconds later, eagerly clutching a clipboard with a timetable-schedule on it. Then finally, Jennifer joined us with a cup of coffee and the driver set off.

"Is this why you came to me this morning, Taylor?" she asked "Because you would volunteer."

I shook my head, my blonde locks smacking my face "I don't know what came over me to volunteer, but there's nothing I can do now, anyway." I smiled, sadly.

"Is there a guitar in the car?" I asked. I was desperate to play.

"No, of course not, silly!" Myra giggled. She seemed too young at heart to be an adult- giggling and giving the driver flirty looks in the mirror "But there will definitely be one on the train!"

Train?

For the next half hour I droned out Myra's constant chattering and thought of some new lyrics for my new 'hunger games' song called "eyes open"

"Everybody's waiting for you to break down,

Everybody's watching to see the fall out,

Even when you're sleeping,

Keep your eyes open." I hummed to myself until I finally fell asleep.

When I woke up it was dark and Myra was shaking me awake. I guessed we were at the train station. We got out of the car and walked across a long platform and waited for the train.

A rumble vibrated beneath our feet and a horn so loud that Myra had to hold her ears. The train was the quickest moving object I'd ever seen.

It stopped in front of us and I took a big step onto the car of the train.

My second step towards the games.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! It took absolutely AGES to write this. Thanks for all the new reviewers- moon particles, thefriggindonkey, Ihatestupidnames, NeonHedgehog and, finally, Izzthewolf.**

**Also, to coadhpgg for NOT mentioning me in her story even though I edited all of it and corrected ALL grammar. I no longer follow you coadhpgg. **

The train was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Ever.

There were portraits of president Carlton and the districts. There were two avoxes standing, waiting for us. I had never seen an avox before. At school they made me think that avoxes were some kind of mutilated human; made into a creature, but they looked perfectly normal to me. There were blue carpets spread around the room, with furniture scattered around the cart. It was the largest train I'd ever seen, with two mahogany tables at one end of the carriage and a sofa and television at the other. Beautiful ornaments filled the room, such as a beautiful oriental vase and a model sculpture of a bird. I didn't know what type of bird it was- but I could tell it was a song bird by the way its neck crooks and its beak opens slightly, as if to whistle.

I speed walked over to the buffet table, spread with a plain white table cloth and filled with delicious foods, some of which I had never seen before. I grabbed a plate and began filling my plate with spoon full of chicken stew, pee puree; beef with onion gravy and for desert: fruit salad.

I sat down at the first mahogany table, dying to try these new foods and enjoy my life while it still exists. Edward sat down next to me.

The puree tasted a bit dry, but the chicken stew was like heaven in your mouth, melting your insides with its warmth.

"This is so good!" I sighed while chewing my third mouth full of beef. Edward looked at his plate and tried some beef. He sank in his chair and smiled. It was the first time I'd ever seen him smile, but to be fair, he did just get reaped for the hunger games.

"Why did you volunteer?" he asked, curiously.

"Just cuz." I shrugged. He stared at me with eager eyes, just staring, and staring. He. Wouldn't. Stop. Staring. "Stop staring at me!" I whined "It's not helping!"

He just stared.

"Well, it's not helping that you're such a…a meanie." He said.

I raised my eyebrows at his childish comment "fine. I volunteered because I wanted to prove to Joe that I wasn't a wimp." I lied. I didn't even know why I volunteered. Yet.

He finished eating, got up and gave a pretty, blonde avox his plate and thanked her. He wasn't the type of boy I'd considered a friend.

I finished eating and slurped up the last juicy bit of gravy. I got up and wondered around until I found a long corridor of rooms with names on them. My room was number thirteen, which, coincidentally, happened to be my lucky number.

I pushed the door open.

A chandelier swayed above my head. I switched on the light and immediately, the room lit up. The room was warm and cosy, a double bed on the right side of the room, with two end tables either side of it; on one end table, a clock; on the other, some chocolates.

On the other side of the room was a dresser full of sweet-smelling, beautiful clothes. At the back of the room, was a huge window with pink curtains. I rushed over to the window and looked out: the sky was gold. It was a beautiful shade of yellow-gold.

It reminded me of when my father and I had a day out.

He took me on a tractor ride, past the pumpkin patches; I had a big coat on.

I noticed a guitar in the corner of the room and lunged at it. I perched on the end of the bed and strummed. I worked out the lyrics in about five minutes:

"I don't know why all the trees change in the fall I know you're not scared of anything at all Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away But I know I had the best day With you today"

A knock on the door made me flinch.

"Come in!" I called.

Edward walked in. I frowned at him. He frowned back.

"I heard you playing…" he said "you're talented."

"Thanks." I croaked "I've been playing since I was four."

"How many songs have you written?" He asked

"Many, many, many songs." I sighed. It was quite a boring life when I thought about it.

He smiled, awkwardly, and shuffled out of the room, slowly. But before he left he turned around and said "And, Taylor, we're all meeting at seven for dinner and to watch the reapings." Then he left.

I hugged my knees and sank onto the floor, curled in a hunched up ball. I stayed like that for what seemed like ages. Eventually, I just picked up the guitar and a notepad and pen and began writing the lyrics to a song I'd began writing, 'The Best Day'

"I'm five years old  
It's getting cold  
I've got my big coat on"

True story. I was five when it happened.

"I hear your laugh  
and look up smiling at you  
I run and run"

Perhaps it happened… maybe not… I didn't really know. Some of my lyrics are hard to understand.

When I finished the song, it was ten minutes to seven and I began to panic. I rushed into the en-suite bathroom, stripped and jumped into the shower. There were settings on the shower. I began with lemon, but it smelt too strong, then I tried rose, but it burned by eyes. I eventually settled on cinnamon. I shampooed my hair and when I was done I hopped out of the shower and looked for a towel. There wasn't a towel in the bathroom and I was dripping wet. I stepped onto the bathroom mat, below the shower and air was immediately blasted at me from the floor. My naked body ended up completely dry. My curly, blonde hair floated down and landed, softly.

I walked into my room and changed into some leggings, a black, sleeveless top and a green zip up jumper. I zipped it up and put some black mascara on to hide my ugly eyelashes.

I opened the door and walked down the hall. I made my way back to the dining room, where Jennifer, Victoria and Edward were waiting for me.

They were sitting on a couch with plates of Yorkshire puddings and gravy and pork.

I sat down next to Edward and an Avox handed me a plate of Yorkshire pudding, gravy, peas and pork.

As we ate the delicious meal, we replayed all the reapings from district one, through to district twelve.

We didn't really need to watch district one, but we did anyway. I looked okay, but I saw an annoying strand of hair in front of my face- it was more than distracting.

District two were two, really young children. The girl was blonde and her cheeks were dotted with freckles. She was twelve. The boy was about fourteen, or a bit younger.

District three was a lot older: a girl, about sixteen, called Sara. She had shiny, brunette hair, small green-brown eyes and pale skin. She had perfect skin, perfect hair, and perfect face. Everything about her was perfect. The boy was called Ryan and had gelled, brown hair and brown eyes. He had a far-away expression on his face.

The last career district, district four, there was a girl called Ella. Ella had a narrow, oblong face with angular cheekbones and a pointed chin. Her slit-like eyes were a clouded hazel, and her thin eyebrows were shaped into a deceivingly perfect arch that followed the slight curve of her eye. A long nose hooked over her full, perfect lips, painted light pink. Dark blonde hair, brushed neatly, hung over her shoulder in a nearly perfect side plait. She walked up with long, but narrow, strides through her white ankle boots and knee-length, white dress and a beanie. It was grey and suited her well.

The boy was a thirteen year old. He was quite tall and had curly brown hair. His eyes were larger than most, and were stone grey. His hair was knotted and un-combed. He had a round face, parched lips and razor-like teeth. He looked scary even though he was very young.

There weren't many remember able faces or people, except from the boy from district ten. He was in a wheel-chair.

_"He won't last ten seconds_" I heard myself say. Everyone murmured their agreements.


	3. Chapter 3

**This is basically just trying to boost the relationship between Ed and Tay because I read the comments and one of you asked about their relationship and I figured I needed to make it more 'interesting'. But I promise you, it's not that interesting. If anything, it's LESS interesting than anything else!**

**thx 4 reading!**

I had trouble getting to sleep that night. I had dreams of the boy from district ten and the girl from district four with her skinny structure. I dreamt that they all threw rocks at me and I was crying and crying, but they wouldn't stop. I woke up screaming, my eyes watering with salty, warm tears. The train was only a day away from the station- another step towards the games. I wished I never volunteered. Harry was right, I'm so stupid.

I got out of bed and walked over to the door and twisted the brass door handle. The door creaked open to reveal Edward, curled up in a ball outside his door. The light from the hall way made me wince. I looked at Edward, who hadn't noticed me yet. I went back into my room and quickly grabbed the guitar and hurried back out in two seconds. I sat down and sighed. Loudly. He still didn't notice me though, his sobs were too loud.

"In the middle of the night when I'm in this dream

It's like a million little stars spelling out your name

You gotta come on, come on, say that we'll be together

Come on, come on, little taste of heaven"

I sang one of my songs: untouchable. It wasn't about him, but it sounded right for my situation.

He looked up and half-smiled at me. His eyes were bloodshot red, but still managed to look happy in some ways.

"You had nightmares too?" he asked me, sniffing

"No," I said sarcastically "I just like to wake up in the middle of the night and sing outside my room."

"Oh! It was singing!" he joked back "I thought it was an impression of a dying cat!" I play- kicked him. We laughed together. It was the first time I'd ever not thought he was awkward and…weird.

"How many times was your name in the bowl?" I asked

"fifty." He said blankly. I stared at him- eyes wide open. I thought I had my name in loads of times but Edward… "What is it? What're you staring at?"

I laughed.

"Play another song" Edward told me.

I strummed a bit then sang

"Long handwritten note, deep in your pocket

Words, how little they mean, when you're a little too late

I stood right by the tracks, your face in a locket

Good girls, hopeful they'll be and long they will wait"

He was quiet for a long time, then whispered "Your songs, what do they mean?"

"Most of them are about past boyfriends…" I answered

More silence

"But they all have meanings, don't they?"

"Yes, they do."

"Tell me one of the meanings."

"Well, one of them, 'both of us', was saying 'I wish I could help both of us out of the tough times, but I'm not even strong enough to lift one of us."

"Wow." He said. "Deep." I laughed. And we both looked at each other.

"Who knew I could have a deep convocation with a guy who I'm supposed to kill in a week." I joked.

"See you tomorrow." Edward said, while getting up

"Not if I see you first…" I joked

Edward snorted and went back into his room. I was left sitting there, alone. I strummed my guitar for a few chords, and then went back to bed.

That morning, Victoria woke me with a loud knock at my door "WAKE UP, TAYLOR! WE'RE 30 MINUTES AWAY!"

I got up, brushed my teeth and hopped into the shower. I chose a new setting: Wild Lilacs. It was an amazing smell and I think the capitol will like it. I scrubbed my body clean and shampooed my hair.

Then I got out and stepped onto the mat to dry off. The blast of air nearly lifted me off the ground! I got changed into a red dress and black pumps. I coated my lips in red lipstick, my eyes in black mascara and just left my hair in its usual curly mess. Sometimes it looks really good when it's natural.

I walked out into the hall and walked through the long, paint-smelling corridor, decorated with beautiful paintings and ornaments. When I was half way down the hall I smelt delicious sausages and bacon so, naturally, I ran the rest of the way and shoved the door open. The smell hit me like a punch, and nearly threw me off my feet!

There was also a huge bowl of fruit punch in the corner. Edward and Jennifer were sitting at a table with four chairs at it. Victoria was still serving food for herself. I took a plate and served myself sausages, bacon and eggs. Then I sat down and began stuffing my face with food. Victoria sat down and joined us. She ate extremely quickly compared to everyone else.

"Quick, quick! We'll be late! Eat up! Eat up!" She hurried

I shoved the last bit of sausage into my mouth and dabbed the corners of my mouth with a napkin.

"Is my lipstick smudged?" I asked Jennifer

"No, you look beautiful Taylor." She reassured me "I'm going to start mentoring you tomorrow, if that's okay."

"It's fine." Edward nodded I murmured my agreement

"Well, do you guys want to be mentored together or separately?" She asked

I looked at Edward for an answer. He looked back at me for an answer. I decided to answer for both of us. "Together." I told her. Edward smiled and nodded.

"Well, that's settled then." She wiped crumbs off the tablecloth and go t up to do her hair.

The train screeched to a halt and we all fell really silent. The drive made an announcement threw the speaker "Hello ladies and gentleman, we've reached our destination. I wish you all well and good luck." I could hear the smile in his voice.

The doors opened and camera flashes and crowds reached my view. We got out of the train and Victoria and Jennifer guided us towards the tribute building, ignoring the press and cameras. I felt famous, like a celebrity. The lights and the shouts made me dizzy and I almost fell over.

We walked through the huge doors of the building and saw the one person I never wanted to see:

Ronan.

**Hey GUYS! You don't know Ronan, but next chapter it will all be explained. And, yes, Ronan is from her 'stand up to cancer' song, Ronan.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey again! My 4th chapter is up (as you can tell) and I want to thank everyone for reviewing and following me, especially my 30th reviewer: NeRdYtURdy3468**

**And I also want to tell izzthewolf to stop saying that she is bad at writing. You aren't.**

**Also to T-Swizzle! xx**

I recognised my adopted baby brother even though it had been… eight years. He was adopted when he was six; I was eight. When he was ten he supposedly 'died' of 'cancer'. He ran away to pursue his dreams of becoming a stylist. I was twelve, and we'd only known him for four years. He sent a letter explaining everything. Mother cried. Father swore. I wrote a song about it.

"Come on baby with me, we're gonna fly away, from here. You were my best four years." I loved that song.

His brilliant blue eyes lit up at the sight of me. The hairs on the back of my neck and on my arms stood up on end.

"Taylor! I saw you volunteer! You have no idea how long I've wanted to see you!" He grabbed me and embraced me in his arms. Mine stayed limply hanging at my sides.

"Yeah." I frowned "Five years."

"I'm…sorry" he said, sympathetically. He could never understand my remorse and anguish.

I gave him a look. A look of disgust. A look of hate. He stared after me as I walked, with dignity, to the elevator that stood on the left side of the reception area. Edward followed. The doors slid open and we got in. I jabbed the button and the doors shut again. We left Ronan behind. I stood, silently, my arms crossed over my chest, concealing my anger.

Edward stared at me.

Stared

And stared

And stared

"Stop staring!" I told him "It's not helping!"

"Well, you being an asshole isn't helping either!" he argued "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"That…_thing_ with that _guy_!" He complained

I told him everything. Right from the beginning. Even the letter, and the song and the years of loneliness.

He nodded along to my incredibly long backstory. He was silent for a long while, then locked his fingers in mine. I stood silent, frozen to the spot, eyes wide open.

"Sorry." Edward hung his head, ashamed for the physical contact he just committed.

"Don't be." I said "I'm just… emotionally unstable." I confessed.

The elevator reached our floor- floor one for district one. But it took longer to get there because of reception, training rooms, private meeting rooms, stylist rooms and more. The doors slid open again and revealed a beautiful, modern room. The chandelier that hung from the ceiling no longer shuddered from movement, like the one on the train. There was a cozy, comfy area where the television stood. It was longer than my arm span and taller than all of me. Its satellite wire ran through the room, past the fluffy red and blue carpets and into a new room labelled with slanted, italic writing which said "Electrics"

The table stood across the room, with a few wooden chairs with small blue cushy seats. Nothing was on the table except from a vase of flowers.

Edward and I walked in, gaping at the capitalized room in front of us. We rushed around the neat corridors like little kids in a field of daisies. The hallways smelt like paint and expensive stuff. Edward laughed out loud just at the sight of this amazing apartment. He threw his head back laughing like a little kid.

We had separate rooms, across the hall from each other. "See you on the other side!" He smiled at me just before entering his room of excitement and wonder. I guess we're over reacting a bit, but we'd never had luxury like this in our lives before. Even in district one!

I slowly twisted the handle and pushed the door open. The gorgeous, golden sun beamed in through the window. The double, king-sized bed was on the right side of the room, with amazing pink, satin sheets and lots of white pillows. Lots.

A huge white dresser stood at the back, next to the window. There was also a guitar- Silver and glittery. Just like the one at home. Just like it. Just. Like. It.

How did they know? Did they research me? I rushed out the room to meet Edward in the hallway and we squealed together. Like little girls… fan girling.

Then we rushed back inside our rooms and left each other. I lunged towards the shiny, silver guitar and strummed to my heart's content.

I kept wondering what Ronan did after I left. Did he follow me? Did he walk away? Why was he there anyway? The questions flew around my head until I had a head ache.

I didn't know what to do, because if I went outside Ronan might be there, so I sat down and gently strummed the silver strings. The strings tickled my fingertips and sent vibration waves through my fingers and up my arms and through my spine. The vibrations made Goosebumps form on my arms and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I shuddered. This was the sign for me to stop playing for a while.

I stood up and stretched my back and legs. I walked through the soft carpet and opened the door. The smell of fresh paint and green beans wafted in through the door. I walked out and pushed the double doors open into the living room, where Victoria and Jennifer sat and chatted quietly on the soft, velvet, blue couch. They held neat, china cups of tea and sipped occasionally, steam wafting into the air.

I walked over and sat next to Victoria, who smiled politely at me.

"Hello Taylor!" She smiled again "What do you need? Would you like tea or hot chocolate?"

"Tea would be nice." I answered. She picked up a silver bell and rang it. The silvery chimes rang out and within four seconds a chef exited the kitchen and entered the living room and passed me a steaming hot cup of tea, identical to Victoria and Jennifer's.

"So, Jennifer, aren't you supposed to be mentoring us… as our mentor and all that…" I asked

"Yes, I am, so do you want to start?" she asked "I was planning to start tomorrow, but if you want some more time…"

At that moment Edward walked through the door.

"Ah! Edward, do you want to start training now?" She asked

"That's exactly why I'm here! You read my mind!" he smiled sweetly.

Edward, Jennifer and I walked to the elevator and went down 1…2…3 floors past the kitchens, past the test rooms and past the hospital rooms.

We finally made it to a long hall of different rooms labelled from one to twelve for each district. We entered the room labelled '1a'. 1b wasn't going to be used because we were mentored together.

Jennifer pressed a button, which triggered two massive doors to open to reveal our stylists and styling rooms.

"This is the first step. Get pretty" she said. I walked into my dressing room, where my oddly dressed stylists stood, awaiting my presence. My head stylist was a lady with bright pink hair in the style of a bob. She had a dress that was one of the most normal dresses I'd ever seen a capitol citizen wear. It was orange and black, and looked like butterfly wings. It was actually quite pretty. My other two stylists both had really short, orange hair and wore flared trousers, covered in blue and green sequins. Their tops were belly tops, showing their tattooed and pierced bellies. Their tops were plain black, but had massive green and orange feathers poking out of the sleeves.

"Hello Taylor! I'm Deirdre, but you can call me DeDe. This is Helena and Christine." She gestured to the two young ladies standing next to her. They waved and curtsied.

The two ladies guided me to a long room with many doctor's tables and plucking and snipping tools. A few tributes and their stylists were being beautified. I knew why I was there.

I stood next to the table, where I was stripped down and given a plastic bag – looking dress. They stripped me from all of my leg and arm hair.

"_Rrrriiiippppp_" Went the last strip of hair from my left leg. Pretty much all my body was now red and painful.

"There we go!" Piped Helena "Now for the eyebrows"

"No, no" argued Christina "DeDe said to leave her eyebrows as they are- they're almost perfect!" I was flattered by this compliment.

I turned my head and was shocked to see what I did. Ronan. He was a stylist for Edward! He wasn't doing his eyebrows like the others though, he was the_ head_ stylist.

I moved my head back, so not to catch his eye. When I sat up Christina and Helen brought me to DeDe. Who told me to take my plastic bag off. I was standing in front of her, naked, as she examined my body. I tried not to flinch. She nodded and smiled.

"Great" she said "you have the perfect structure for the dress I made." He walked back round the cabin and brought back a beautiful dress:

It was a few centimetres above the knee and at the bottom was a pink silk ruffled strip. The dress itself was black and sleeveless. It had white lines on it, like leaf stems- not straight or stripes- more like flower stems.

The shoes matched my dress- they were pink with black straps.

"Just one problem" She frowned "Your hair… it's…. curly."

"And what's the problem with that?" I said, offended.

"We need you to have straight hair to appeal to the audience, and I have the perfect hair cut for you."

She brought me to a chair, where I reclined. She put ear buds in my ears where I listened to songs and told me to close my eyes. I listened to recordings of my own songs. I had no idea how she got these.

I listened to Ronan first. I hummed along to "C'mon baby with me, we're gonna fly away from here, you were my best four years."

I also listened to my personal favourite: superman

It had a ring to it, so when it finished you could still hear the echoes after the song ended. I imagined life if I did have a superman- my own hero. I won't have one in the games though, unless you count my allies- if I get any. I'm not a great fighter.

As DeDe pulled and tugged at my hair I nodded along to my songs.

After he finished my hair felt warm- almost hot- and felt soft as a feather, like it wasn't even there. She opened my eyes and removed the ear buds. I looked in the full length mirror in front of me and saw me (it was definitely me) but I had hair as straight as a ruler. I liked it, but it didn't feel like me. It felt like a parallel universe me. DeDe smiled and nodded. "Perfect" she smiled widely "What do you think?"

"Wow, it's amazing! Amazing and very… different." I widened my eyes at my reflection- I still couldn't believe that I had straight hair. What would Edward say?

"I'm glad you like it." She said, and dismissed me. I took the dress and shoes and went to be mentored with Edward. Jennifer was waiting with Edward in the training room. He wore a black suit with a light pink tie- to match my outfit. When I came in Edward looked at me in awe.

"Wow Tay, you look… I mean… wow!" He gazed at me. I felt myself going bright red. "Nice dress." He tried to say coolly, but failed. I guess I'm just too amazing!

Jennifer stood up and we began training for the interviews with Augustus Moon.


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter took a lot longer than expected to write, sorry 'bout that! In between everything else I have to do, I am really struggling to find time for this :(**

**Oh, and I'd like to thank Vampirevampirevampire, Izzthewolf and thefriggindonkey for being there for me this whole time. thanks guys xxx**

I sat in Edwards's room, on a fuzzy bean-bag, while Edward sat on his bed, leaning on the back wall, on a pillow. He was reading a book, written by DeDe, called "the opposite attraction" about makeup. We watched a recording of Augustus Moon, the capitol interviewer, talk to our stylists. The actual live interviews happened the night before. Augustus moon had glittery eye liner, and gold hair. _Gold. _Edward thought it was one of the strangest things he'd ever seen. But in a way, I quite liked it. It brought out the green in his eyes.

His wide smile showed shiny, white, perfectly shaped teeth. His cheekbones stood out, showing off his ridged chin and face shape. His chin had a slight dip where a dimple stood out, like mine. His full body suit, also gold, reflected his shiny personality. Tiny little golden sequins were sewn all over the suit. He sat, one leg resting on his glittery knee, relaxed in a leaning position. DeDe sat in a chair opposite him, giving hints and little details about my makeup and hair.

"Stick with the 'opposites attract' rule when it comes to colours. For blue eyes, tan, bronze, and brown hues work best. Swift complements her eyes perfectly with smoky golden bronze shadow: The colour should be the strongest along the lash-line and fade towards the crease of the eyelid," DeDe explained.

"Did you understand any of that?" Edward asked, looking up from his book.

"Nope," I laughed "I am completely baffled." Which was true, as I understood next to nothing of what she said, but for some reason, the audience went absolutely insane.

Edward stood up and chucked the book on the floor. "Garbage," he said "Complete and utter _garbage"_

"So I'm guessing you don't like it" I 'guessed'

"It's all just capitol nonsense" he kicked it.

"Careful!" I panicked "DeDe gave me that! And I quite enjoyed it _actually!"_

He sighed. "You're just like _them"_

"Who."

"The capitol ditzy girls, they all fall in love with whatever sounds smart and seems legit."

"Seems legit." I joked

"There you go again!"

"I was joking!" I laughed and squirmed as he poked me in the ribs. He sent me out of his room so he could shower.

I wandered the halls for a while, and then decided to go into the living room, where our stylists sat, chatting away; each one with a different, crazy outfit. Ronan sat on the end of the sofa laughing at the others jokes.

I decided to back out the room, slowly and carefully, to avoid Ronan.

"You can't avoid him forever" my mind told me

I pushed the doors open, back into the hallway and once I was free, I sank down the wall and hugged my knees

"I know" I whispered back

I sat there, hugging my knees, with my face in between my legs for a while, it was hard to tell. When you're not doing anything time passes too quickly. Every second dragged on like a million years, so eventually I stood up and stretched. The hallways split at a junction when I walked far enough and I had no idea where I was, so I just carried on, hoping that I'd somehow make it back to my room. I tried to remember the ways I went: Left, left, right, left, forward, right, left, right, right.

I played through the directions in my head like it was a new song that I had to learn. I got lost eventually and turned around. I made my way back, following the trail of fluff off my pink, fuzzy slippers.

I finally found my way back to my room and sighed. I walked in and sank back down to the floor "Well, that was an adventure. I guess…" I sighed and turned on the television to a capitol teens channel where the only jokes are stupid, child, cheesy jokes.

I got bored of listening to stupid actors make idiotic jokes, so I stood up and walked out the room again. Edward, coincidentally, was also walking out his room from across the hall. His long, brown hair looked almost black from the water.

"Hey," he said, through his hair "what're you up to?"

"I actually have no idea" I admitted "I got bored"

"I want to see weather dinner is nearly done, I'm starving!"

I didn't realise how hungry I was until he said that "Yeah me too." I said

"Let's go then." We started walking towards the lounge

"You need a haircut" I told him

"Yeah, that's what Ronan told me. I'm getting a fancy haircut tomorrow."

"Are you nervous?" I asked

"Nah, it's not like I haven't had a haircut before." He nodded

"You've had a haircut before?!" I joked "I couldn't tell"

He pushed me through the doors into the lounge, where Victoria, Jennifer, and the two head stylists, Ronan and DeDe sat, watching the replays of former tributes' interviews. Some came off as sexy (like me), some came off as funny, some came off as strong and some as weaklings. Edward was going to make the impression that he was indestructible. After all, he was tall, muscular and extremely well built. Even for someone from a career district. I doubted any of the others were as strong as him. I wondered what Ella was going to come off as.

I walked over with Edward and Jennifer shooed us back and said "Now go again, but act like you're going onto stage with Augustus Moon."

So we linked arms and I strutted, sexily, while Edward showed off his muscles. I twisted my straight, blonde hair around my finger and bit my lip.

"Perfect!" Jennifer clapped her hands "Now if you could just do that with your outfits on…"

A bell rand and chefs walked out of the kitchen with silver plates and served us roast chicken, Sweetcorn, peas, carrots, bread rolls, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes and parsnips.

We sat at the table in our usual seating plan: I sat opposite Edward, Victoria sat next to me and Jennifer sat next to Edward.

"Oh, now I wish we could stay!" Ronan chuckled as he and DeDe left.

We tucked in, happily to dinner and stuffed our hungry faces, except Victoria, who was used to the spoiled, capitol treatment and superiority.

We heard shouts from district two, upstairs. We all lifted our heads to hear what was happening. Something smashed: a plate? A vase?

We heard shouts and stomps. The elevator moved and we guessed someone was being taken to the nurse, down two levels.

Victoria got up and pushed her chair in "I'm going to find out what's going on." She said, before walking to the elevator, where the little twelve-year-old girl stood with her mentor. I couldn't see what happened, but by the way she was crying and clutching her hand, I guessed she was hurt.

When we were all finished, we sat on the sofa and talked about what we were going to say in the interview. We did some role-play, where Jennifer was Augustus and we had to answer the questions

"So, Taylor, how ready do you think you are for the games?" she asked

I smiled, with my tongue behind my teeth- the way Jennifer taught me, and said "Well, Augustus, I think I'm _more_ than ready to fight"

"Wow, Taylor, impressive!" She said. Edward sat, smiling at me. Edward and I swapped places, because it was his turn.

"Edward, is it true that your sister, Harriet, I think, she is twelve?"

"That is, indeed, true" he said, his hands clasped in his lap. His legs were uncomfortably squashed together, as if he was nervous, or sad. His eyebrows lowered down his forehead and stopped close to his eyes. His mouth was tight and his lips pressed together, as if he was trying to scream, but holding himself together

"And, Harriet was there to say goodbye to you?"

"Yes" he croaked

"What did she say"

He thought for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He frowned "I guess she told me how much she loves me and believes in me. Then she gave me this." He held out his wrist and at first I didn't see anything, but then I saw a silver chain tied around his wrist. "It may not look like much," he said, twisting the chain around between his finger and thumb "but it means the world to me."

It was touching to see this soft side of Edward. I always thought of him as the strong, muscular, cool guy Edward, with his side fringe and teenager attitude.

"I'm not doing this anymore." He immediately stood up and started to walk away

"With what?" Victoria asked

"This stupid star-crossed lovers thing! It's stupid and embarrassing." He walked further away

"When you come up with an idea, we'll do that then." Victoria argued

"How about we pretend to be _ex-_boyfriend and girlfriend?" I asked

Their heads both turned and looked in my direction

"Excellent. Even better than before! Now we just need to practice!" Jennifer announced.

The day dragged on and on, seeming to only get slower and slower and to make matters worse, it was boiling, practically burning hot inside and out.

When it was finally time to go to sleep, I was kept awake with the thought that tomorrow night is when my interview is- when my hair has to be re-straightened, and the finishing touches put on my glimmering gown. Tomorrow night is when I reveal all these lies to the capitol, the districts of Panem, to my friends in district 1. Nothing will be the same again.

Everything has changed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry, I haven't uploaded for months, and it's a rather short chapter this time! I'm trying to find inspiration! Thanks to vampirevampirevampire for giving me inspiration, and my 2 besties, Izzthewolf and coadhpgg.**

**I love you guys :') you are my inspiration.**

**Now to start the story...**

**"It's not theirs to speculate if it's wrong and, your hands are tough but they are where mine belong"**

The night of the interviews came quicker than I expected, seeing as the day before dragged on way too slowly.

That morning we had breakfast in close-to silence. The only talking was when someone said "pass the nuts" or "could I have the fruit bowl"

Next came training. I had to walk around in my shoes and dress without tripping over. I was quite good at that, though, but I wanted to practice more because who would want to be known as 'TAYLOR, THE CLUMSY GIRL FROM DISTRICT 1!'

I could just imagine Augustus Moon shouting that through the crowd and in the television. I could picture every single human in Panem laughing at my clumsy mistake.

Lunch came, but by then, everyone was much more awake and active. We had a long debate of what might happen if the hunger games ever ended and who might me the person to stop it.

After lunch we had a rest, and then got back downstairs with Victoria, who gave us practice lessons on waving and smiling. The trick is to place your tongue behind your top, front teeth and open your mouth slightly. Waving is easy: not too much, not too little

At two o'clock we made our way over to the stylist's block, behind the stadium, where we had never been before. My dressing room had a full length mirror, a hair dressing chair, a few fairy lights for decoration and a small compartment where my outfit was stored.

"Taylor!" DeDe beamed at me "You look stunning!" she clapped as I twirled around in my black and pink dress. My heels were fine and I could strut around as much as I liked. After my hair was done, it felt like a butterfly had chopped off all my hair and in its place, put its wings. My blonde hair felt so silky and soft I forgot that it was there for a minute.

Then it came to the makeup.

"Stick with the 'opposites attract' rule when it comes to colours. For blue eyes, tan, bronze, and brown hues work best. Swift complements her eyes perfectly with smoky golden bronze shadow: The colour should be the strongest along the lash-line and fade towards the crease of the eyelid,"

Those words from her interview with Augustus stuck in my head as she applied my eye shadow, blusher and lip-gloss.

When it was time to go, it was 5 o'clock. It took _three hours_ to get everything sorted out. There was a door near the front of the stylist cabin that led to the backstage of the stadium. My heart pounded faster and heavier than it did at the reaping, or any other time. My heel stuck to the floor, but DeDe put her hand on my shoulder and said softly "Taylor, you are the most charming girl I have ever met. You can do this."

I smiled at her and nodded. My hands shook as I saw most of the other tributes talking and laughing in the hallway.

The show started at seven, but it was just past five when I walked out, so I still had two hours until the show began.

Ronan came out with Edward. I turned away, pretending to be distracted. It didn't matter, he didn't come near anyway. Edward sided up to me.

"You look good, Taylor." He said. I looked at him, and then had to look again, and again. His shaggy, brown hair had been cut off and styled into a more 'popular boy' style that all the cool boys at my school had. His brown hair was lighter towards the roots, and it flicked up at the front. It was great. I smiled and ruffled his new hair. We laughed and talked about our stylists and how we thought we should be if the capitol could like you for you.

Later on, when Edward had gone to get some water, I noticed Ella standing on the opposite side of the hall. She was prettier than I had remembered- her long hair was let loose, like mine, and she wore a sleeveless, golden-yellow dress that had a silk top and ruffled skirt. She had golden bracelets and bangles to match her dress and her hair was a wavy, dark blonde colour. Her eyes had golden eye shadow, but not too much, the perfect amount. Her laugh showed her perfectly whitened teeth and when she smiled, her mouth curved to show her beautiful smile marks. She had hooped, golden earrings, which showed off her beautifully shaped face and ears.

Another girl that caught my eye was the girl from district eight. She had long, dark-blonde hair, twisted around her shoulder into a side tail, dip dyed light blonde at the bottom. She had huge, black, heeled shoes which made her even taller than she already was. The skirt of her dress was long at the back and short at the front. It's white fabric hung down to her calves, while the front stayed up above the knee. The top part was black and had white lines crossing over the black background.

The twelve-year-old girl from district two was dressed in a knee length, pink dress. It was fully pink, with silk straps over her shoulders. On her left shoulder strap was a pink flower- a rose. She had suitable, pink pumps. The only one without high heels. She should save her innocence while it lasts.

When Edward got back it was ten minutes until the show, and we were both nervous wrecks. We held hands and tried to lower the redness of our faces, besides, we didn't want to go out looking like ripened tomatoes. He handed me a bottle of water. I sipped a bit of it, and then put it down, so not to smudge my makeup.

I was the first to go, seeing as I'm the girl from the first district.

Augustus Moon introduced the show, and we watched on a television screen from backstage. I was told to stand by the curtain, and wait for my cue. Many questions and worries blasted through my brain as he welcomed everyone.

I heard the words.

"And now, welcome, Taylor Swift, from District 1!"

I sashayed onto stage, waving and smiling, though inside I was a nervous wreck. I flipped my golden hair and smoothly swished over to Augustus moon, where he kissed my perfectly manicured hand. I sat in the red, velvet chair next to Augustus. I neatly tucked my beautiful dress under myself as he asked me the first question

"So, Taylor, you volunteered at the reaping, for Fran Summer. I'm sure she's very grateful. Did she come to see you, before you left?" Augustus asked

"Actually, no" I giggled

"Who did come to see you, Taylor?"

"Well," I thought "My family came first, then my best friend, Harry"

"What did Harry say to you?"

"He said…." I though "He said I was stupid." I laughed, and the audience roared with laughter. "My mum said that the hunger games are just like writing a song."

"And, Taylor, what are your thoughts on the Capitol?"

"Well, I didn't actually realise that the capitol organisers would live in the same hotel as us."

"Where did you think they lived?"

"I don't know what I thought, like maybe on clouds or something." The audience roared with laughter at my comment. I was beginning to enjoy this

"And, how ready do you think you are?" he asked me, crossing his leg over, so rest it on his other leg, casually.

"Oh, Augustus, I am _more_ than ready" I swished my hair, swiftly

"I bet you are!" He laughed, and I laughed with him "now, what about your fellow tribute, Edward. Have you had any past relationships?"

I was so glad he slipped that in, because I was wondering how I would bring that up "Oh, Edward, we had a past relationship, but you know….the past" I looked down, sadly

"His loss." Augustus said and I thanked him, smiling and tossing my hair. For the rest of the interview I bit my lip in that sexy way that all the models do.

"Give it up for…. Taylor Swift, from district 1!" I remember him shouting. He lifted my arm, as if I was already a champion.

Next was Edward's turn, and he, of course was interrogated with our previous "relationship"

But what he said next was the bit that struck me the most

"I look at this as a journey, a journey of discovery: to find new horizons, new places, new friends."

Then Augustus asked him another question about this

"The journey is hard, but the effort is worth it, and what's more exciting, this journey never ends." He said

But it does end. When you die.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry about the bad quality of writing in this chapter. It's 11:12pm and I'm kinda tired. Now I'm gonna shut up and let you enjoy your read. Thankyou, again, to vampirevampirevampire for giving me inspiration and being a good friend. By the way, your name is really hard to say!**

**vampirevampirevampire**

**seriously! Try saying that fast! Nope, I can't do it!**

**Okay just read... :)**

The next night was a stressful time. In the morning we would have to prove to the game makers that we were good and I still hadn't found my skill. I had been training for several days, but hadn't discovered any talents. I could barely pick up a bow.

I had discovered one thing, though: I could definitely throw well.

Edward came out onto the balcony, his green eyes shining from the light of the moon. He came and sat next to me on the wall of the balcony, feet dangling over the edge.

He put his arm around me and I felt electricity shoot through my body. I didn't want him to let go of me. I wanted to be held and share comfort with someone, and that someone had to be Edward.

I had never felt like this before, not with anyone. When he was around me I felt shy and aware of everything. I wanted to be closer to him, to feel the body heat radiating off of him.

We sat there, looking at the moon, not saying anything for a while, when he looked at me and said "Taylor, why are you crying?"

I was crying a lot. Tears ran down my face and splashed into my lap.

"What's not to cry about?" I asked

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, tomorrow could determine my life span. If I do well, I'll probably last longer in the games. If I do badly, well, you know what will happen." I explained.

I stopped crying after that and just sat there, leaning into Edward. I closed my eyes and then it was just me and Edward, alone. No hunger games, no districts, no one, except me and Edward. I wanted this moment to last.

"You're a talented girl, Taylor" he told me

I didn't answer, as I had nothing to say. I was talented, but in the wrong way.

"Just close your eyes, the sun is going down, you'll be alright, you and I'll be safe and sound" I sang

He listened and sat quietly for a second, taking in the situation of the moment. I waited for him to respond.

He rubbed my arm to comfort me; it sent sparks up my arm and exploded into colourful fireworks in the sky. The parade below us erupted in cheers and laughter.

"This is sick." He said

"what?" I shrugged

"That 24 children are going to go and fight to the death and we're just sitting here, while below us, people are celebrating. It's sick." He took his arm away from around me. I was sad that he wasn't holding me anymore, but he was right.

"Edward, there's nothing we can do." I told him. And I got up and went to bed, leaving him alone on the balcony. I was overly tired and hadn't slept through stress, but that night I got to bed easily, with no trouble.

That morning was worse than any other. I missed Liam waking me up to clean the sheets. I missed my mum stressing about my grades and what I wear and say. I missed reading the newspaper over my dad's shoulder.

We got up early and got changed into the standard training gear: black t-shirt and leather jacket, brown trousers and black trainers. I pulled my hair back into a messy bun and pinned it back with pins and left the room. The others had already started breakfast, so I joined in, but didn't eat too much so I didn't over feed myself.

I ate a sausage and an egg with some toast, more than my usual breakfast would be. Edward didn't even look at me during breakfast. When he finished, he stood at the elevator, waiting for us to finish so we could go down. We were district 1, so we were first. Therefore, we had to be there really early. I finished and dabbed my mouth with my napkin. Jennifer and Victoria joined us in the elevator and we went down with some encouraging advice from both Victoria and Jennifer. Edward said nothing.

I said nothing.

Since he was the dominant sex (male), he had to go first.

"good luck" I said "don't mess up!" I laughed, but he got up and left

Without a word

Without a look.

I put my head in my hands and listened to the sound of my heartbeat until my name was called.

Taylor Swift

Each syllable of my name felt like a bullet to the chest.

Edward leaned into me and whispered "you're lucky enough to be different. Don't ever change."

I walked into the centre of the large hall and said, as calmly as possible "Taylor Swift" up to the game makers on the balcony above me

I was surrounded by weapons of all kinds. I looked around me for a weapon, skimming my fingers over the swords, bows, arrows, boulders, paints, but settled on the knifes.

I picked up the first knife. It felt light and familiar in my hand. I twisted the shiny handle around in my fingers until it felt familiar enough.

I took my first throw. It hit the cut out in the neck.

"Yes." I congratulated myself

The game makers clapped, nonchalantly. I picked up four more and threw them one after the other. I hated the violence.

I hated the sound it made when it planted into the cut out's chest.

I hated the cheers from the game makers.

I bowed and left as quickly as I could. How could anyone like that?

When I got back the first question I was asked was from Edward

"What happened? Why are you crying?"

"I'm intimidated by the fear of being average." I answered


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the short chapter, but this, plus chapter 7 is all one day, so effectively, it's all one chapter, but split!**

**Thanks for the kind reviews xx**

**Luv you xxxxxxxxxx :]**

Later, in the evening, we all sat on the sofa, eating a vegetarian dinner of curry and corn. The TV was on medium volume and we listened as Augustus Moon and the head game maker talking about the tributes and their performances.

As we waited for it to finish and for Augustus to announce the tribute scores we debated the results.

Just as the programme finished, we settled on both sevens.

The announcement for the results came on, the determination of my future and life, the number that could tell me weather I would live or not.

That one simple number could change the world for everyone around me.

"And now, announcing the scores for our district tributes, starting at district one, and ending with district twelve."

We shuffled around in our seats, nervously. Edward and I held hands in hope of good numbers.

"Starting with the district one, male, Edward Adams…" the number flashed on the screen and we took it into our minds, something that has now changed his fate:

"An eight from Edward!" Augustus cheered, congratulating him.

We patted him on the back and cheered, he was better than expected. His smile was wider than I had ever seen it; it was a beautiful smile, which showed many white, shining teeth.

We calmed down and waited for my score.  
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as it happened. I was un controllably insane from the waiting, the waiting that controlled my fate, future, and life.

The number that came on the screen was a beautiful number, curving at the bottom and forming a spectacular shape:

9

"A nine, a nine, from miss Taylor Swift, from district one." He chuckled and went on to announce the rest.

We celebrated with hot chocolate and biscuits as we watched the rest of the scores.

The twelve-year-olds from district nine, Adam and Megan, seemed to know what they were doing. They both got sevens, impressive.

Ella got a twelve. A _twelve. _I gritted my teeth and tried not to be jealous. She was from district four, anyway, so a higher number would make sense. But a twelve?

She's pretty and has so much skill.

"wow, look at her!" Edward gaped.

"She's something special" Victoria agreed

We heard celebrations from above us, in district two, and decided to call it a night, after all, it was nearly midnight and the next day was the last day. I didn't want to be tired.

As we were walking to our rooms, Edward turned to me and said "Taylor, what is fearless?"

"Just how it sounds, being fear- less. No fears" I said, before leaving him, to go to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**This is another short one, but i'm gonna upload the part 2 for this in a minute :p**

**Have good holidays guys!**

**I'm gonna be uploading all Easter cuz I have nothing else to do with my pathetic life!**

The last day was a restful, peaceful day. We lounged in the hotel room for a while, minding our own business, laughing and having a fun and happy first day.

It made me forget the odds of my survival. I guessed the odds weren't really in my favour now.

We stuffed ourselves with food, just in case we didn't get much in the arena.

At meal times, we had conversations about anything except the hunger games. But we all knew what each other was thinking: "we won't see each other again, so make it last."

Edward and I snuck out, onto the roof of the building after lunch, when no one else was up there. We looked down from the top onto the parades below. They'd be going all morning.

"Why can't we just make it stop now?" he said "Just make it end?"

"What?" I frowned

"I'm going to die anyway, I might as well just make it happen now." He stepped towards the edge of the building, but I pulled him back.

"Don't you dare do that to me Edward." I told him, sternly.

I hugged him. He was taller than me, but not by much. He was muscular and strong and this was the first moment when we connected. It was like when magnets attract to each other, it's hard to pull them apart. But when they repel, it's almost impossible to get them together.

I stood there for what seemed like ages, his fingers combed through my hair, feeling like feathers landing on my straight, blonde hair.

"It's our last day here, we might as well make it count" he said and put his soft, warm lips to my forehead. They felt impossibly warm, and I felt like it was meant to happen.

Then he went back down stairs

Without a word,

Without a look.

I watched as he disappeared from sight.

You could write a book on how to ruin someone's perfect day.

I followed him down, but he had gone to his room, so I went to mine to write songs. That's how I dealt with life

"Be that strong girl that everyone knew would make it through the worst, be that fearless girl, the one who would dare to do anything, be that independent girl who didn't need a man; be that girl who never backed down."


	10. Chapter 10

**FINALLY! It's here! the last night before the games!**

That night I was sitting on the roof, again, panicking and stressing. Saying my 'goodbyes' to the world, listening to the parade, below, the excited cheers of innocent children and their parents. I wanted to go home.

Everyone did. No one in the hotel was sleeping. I could hear muffled conversations from below me.

Edward came out and sat next to me on the rail, feet dangling over, Like before.

"What is fearless, Taylor?" he asked me again.

I thought for a while, debating the options

"Fearless isn't being 100% not fearfull, it's being terrified, but you jump anyway."

"Fearless is getting back up and fighting for what you want over and over again...even though every time you've tried before you've lost." He said back.

"Fearless is not the absence of fear. It's not being completely unafraid. Fearless is having fears. Fearless is having doubts. Lots of them. Fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death." I nodded back.

"Fearless is you." He said, looking up at the stars

"And you, Edward."

We paused, looking into the night and the city and the waves of excitement radiating off of the capitol streets, capturing the scene of the moment, a moment which would never happen again.

"We could win, Edward"

"Yeah, right." He said, in disbelief.

"Real life is a funny thing, you know. In real life, saying the right thing at the right moment is beyond crucial. So crucial, in fact, that most of us start to hesitate, for fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. But lately what I've begun to fear more than that is letting the moment pass without saying anything." I said, after a while

A tear rolled down my cheek.

"You're crying again," he said "why?"

"Again, what's not to cry about? It's our last night before the games."

The muffled voices from district 12 got louder as they cried together. I wanted Edward to comfort me, but he just sat there, with no expression, not words, nothing.

The night began to get darker, and there were no lights on the roof. The only way to see was from the glinting street lights and the moon.

The parade was still going on and was louder than ever. It was annoying how these people supported the deaths of 23 innocent children.

"Taylor, what's so good about writing music?" he asked me

"people haven't always been there for me, but music always has."


	11. Bieber's moment

**Hi everyone, this is just a little comedy chapter before everything gets too serious**

**I was looking through my comments and I found a comment from 'Coadhpgg' and I've decided to use it.**

Justin Bieber and his family walked towards the reaping for district two. Bieber was wearing a NY hat and kept grabbing his *Ehem* 'area', all the time

"Do you have to keep doing that, son?" Mr. Bieber asked Justin, as they got closer to public view.

They got closer to the peace keepers spot and tried to get in.

They eventually did get in after being stopped several times to check that Justin wasn't a girl.

"Bloody peace keepers these days" Mr. Bieber grumbled to himself as Justin joined the boys- 16 crowd.

He got many odd looks as he swished his hair and fluttered his eyelashes at each boy he saw

His best friend, Joe, leaned over to him and asked "are you sure you aren't gay?"

Justin Bieber mumbled something, unsure, but Joe couldn't hear what he said because the reaping had started.

Helena Everheart walked onto stage wearing the largest shoes Justin had ever seen.

"I gotta get myself some of those!" Justin longed for a pair of those gorgeous, flamboyant heels.

Justin Bieber was too absorbed in the heels to notice that HE had been reaped.

"Justin go!" Joe whispered

Justin realized the surety of the moment and stepped forward

Helena looked confused "excuse me, little girl, women cannot volunteer for men."

Justin looked around to see who Helena was talking to. There was no one else in the path up to the stage, so Justin just carried on towards the stage.

Security members sprinted up to Justin and tackled him. They pinned him to the ground.

"What's your name?" One asked in an extremely low voice

"Justin…Bieber" Justin struggled

"Justin Bieber is a boy, you are a girl" the peacekeeper explained

"I am a boy!" Justin complained

"Uhhh…oh…well then…carry on..." The peace keeper cringed.

**I never finished this, but I think this is enough to show what I'm talking about!**

**By the way, just so no one gets confused, JUSTIN BIEBER IS NOT AN ACTUAL TRIBUTE IN MY STORY!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Not the best chapter I've written, but I tried my best...But, finally THE GAMES HAVE BEGUN!**

I woke up early and found myself still on the roof, next to Edward, who was also just waking up. We ran down 12 floors to our floor. No one was awake yet, but we suspected they would soon, as we had to go to get ready for the games.

"Taylor," Edward pulled me to the hall way where our rooms were "There's something I need to give you"

He ran into his room and emerged a few seconds later, carrying a small box with a ribbon around it. He handed it to me.

"here," he said "wear it in the games."

I untied the bow, carefully, and opened the lid of the light pink box. Inside, within a layer of cotton, was a silver necklace with a little, green four-leaf- clover hanging on it.

"wow" I gasped "I've never been given something like this before. I took it out and tied it around my neck.

"For good luck" he said. I hugged him, and thanked him for my beautiful gift. I was honoured to be the owner of such a wealthy possession.

"Thank you, Edward." I said "When do you think we need to go?"

"I don't know, but I hope it isn't soon." He answered "I want to live, Taylor."

"Everyone does. And you _will_ win this." I told him

"Taylor, I'm dead meat." He sighed

Before I could comfort him or even deny his assumption, Victoria came in, in a hurry and told us to get to the stylists, downstairs.

We took the elevator down to the bottom floor, where the long corridor was filled with tributes and waiting stylists. DeDe and Ronan were waiting for us.

"Good luck and I'll see you later." I told Edward

When I got into my styling room, a dark-brown, water-proof raincoat was hanging up next to navy blue, waterproof trousers, a black top and a brown leather jacket.

I got changed into all of the required clothing and finished by hiding my necklace down the front of my top.

"I saw that" DeDe said, pointing at my necklace  
"I'm allowed to wear it, aren't I? There's a rule about it," I said, confused

"I never said you couldn't." She nodded.

Once I was changed and ready to go, we walked to a huge building, where I was taken to a room. On the way, I saw Edward. I called to him and he looked up and smiled, sadly at me.

"Ssh, Taylor" DeDe whispered.

She whipped me round a corner and hurried me inside a room with what looked like a round, glass elevator, small enough for just one person.

"You promise me that you'll come out alive?" DeDe asked

"I can't promise that" I answered

A voice from a speaker in the corner of the empty room told me to get inside the capsule.

"Goodbye, DeDe." I said, tearing a bit

"There's no need to say goodbye, because we will see each other again." She promised me

I nodded and stood inside my capsule, ready to be taken to my death. We waved to each other, a parting gift.

A voice from the speaker counted down from five: "_5….4….3….2…." _and I was lifted into the arena.

The arena was sunny and looked peaceful, until I saw the massive cave-full of weapons, standing in the centre of the field.

Trees stood in a circle around the tributes. I could see nothing but trees, everywhere I looked. The tributes stood on platforms from which they emerged from. I looked around for Edward, who was a few spaces away from me, looking, keenly, at a large sword lying on the ground in the pile.

Ella was on the opposite side of the ring of tributes, in her ready position, breathing heavily.

I stood; ready to run, until the voice from the speaker counted from sixty, down to zero.

"_10…9….8….7" _I had my eye on a bag of knives a few spaces to my right, "_6…5…4…3" _ I noticed a back pack in the middle of a pile of shells, "_2…1…_"There was a silver, jewelled guitar in the corner of the pile. I went for that one. "_zero"_

The cannon blasted and my legs carried me to the guitar. I swiped it up and, tied to the handle, was a back pack.

"Sweet!" I thought

"Taylor!" I heard someone calling me, but I was too busy running for my life to turn around to look.

Someone was running behind me, but that wasn't the person calling me. They threw something, which narrowly missed me, but planted itself in a tree in front of me. I yanked it out of the tree and carried on running, darting through the trees and rolling down grassy hills until I was sure that I was safe. For now, at least.

I heard a crunch of twig and darted round, ready to throw my knife. A shadow emerged, holding two star-shaped darts, lethal and deadly. The figure was still out of sight, so I couldn't tell who it was. She or he was also out of range. All I could see were two darts in a ready position.

"Name?" The person asked. It was a girl, I could tell.

"Taylor." I answered, hesitantly.

"District?" she asked. I didn't answer "I'm not afraid to kill." She threatened.

"One." I answered. I wasn't going to die within the first five minutes "You?"

"Ella, district four." She got up and emerged from the shadows. As soon as she did, she made a run for it. I didn't try to stop her. She wasn't the safest ally I could choose.

I decided to find shelter.

I travelled to an open space, covered with tarmac on the ground. There was a dirty, brown lake one side and a group of caves another side. I wasn't tired or thirsty yet, so I decided to make shelter in a cave.

I found the smallest cave and looked around inside it. There was a patch of shadow at the back where I decided to hide. It wasn't warm in the cave, but it was the best option I had for shelter. I hid the cave entrance and sat at the back.

I looked into my back pack and found a rope, a knife, lots of bandages, a bottle of iodine, some matches, a few packets of berries and dry meat and a water bottle, which was empty. In the front pocket was a guitar pick.

I strummed a bit, but soon heard voices and curled up in a ball to hide In the shadows. Two small children entered my cave and hid at the sides.

"I think we lost them." One whispered. They were the twelve-year-olds from district nine.

I cleared my throat, announcing my presence. They both gasped "Who's there?" one asked in a loud whisper

"I'm Taylor, district one. I'm not going to hurt you. Come hide in the shadows at the back, here" I told them

They walked, cautiously to the back, and I reached out my hand. They took it and curled up in balls next to me until the voices outside grew quiet and slowly drifted away.

I noticed that one was bleeding on her forehead. I took out a bandage and wrapped it round her.

"Thank you, Taylor." She said "I'm Priyanka, from district nine

"I'm Thomas, district nine." The other one told me

I nodded and we settled down. The sky grew dark quickly; the game makers wanted to end the day for now.

I went outside to see the deaths of the tributes:

The boy from district four, the girl from seven, the boy in the wheel chair from ten, the girl from six, both from five and both of the district twelve.

Strengely, no one from three died, even though they're always the first to go.

Edward was still alive somewhere. He may have been near me. Maybe in the cave next to me.


	13. Chapter 13

**The first dramatic chapter! I worked on this for age**s :P **Thanks for 85 reviews xx**

I awoke with a strange pain in the crook of my neck, where a rock had been digging in. I wondered how long we had slept. I slowly crept out the cave, careful not to wake Priyanka or Thomas and estimated about seven am, from the height of the sun. I went to the lake and filled the water bottle up with the lake water and dropped a drop of iodine in. The bottle of iodine would last for months, as long as I didn't spill or waste any.

I waited for a while, with my feet dangling over the edge of the lake side, when I realized that if I had two young children as my allies, they may slow me down or lower my life span.

I decided that I needed to abandon them. I rushed inside, where they were still sleeping. I hated to leave them, and didn't want to be the cause of their deaths. At least I hadn't got too attached to them.

I scooped up my guitar, which was leaning against the wall of the cave, and hauled it over my shoulder. I needed to camouflage it, and the back pack. I took the backpack from under the rock that I hid it under and slowly stepped out of the damp, dark cave.

I took one last look back at their young sleeping bodies, curled up together.

"You don't deserve this." I whispered. I sighed, heavily and left, every step feeling heavier and heavier; my trainers stuck to the ground (not literally).

I came to a parting in the woods where there was wet mud all around. I took my backpack and scooped mud onto it. I did the same to the guitar, until every sign of colour was gone.

The cannon blew. I thought of the possibility of it being Edward, or Priyanka, or Thomas, or maybe Ella. I wanted to ignore it, but I knew that there were only sixteen of us left, and a quarter of them would be people I want to live. I tried hard to swallow the lump in my throat, and push past the tears that I felt coming.

I was still tired, but not yet thirsty enough to drink too much. I didn't want to waste any of this precious water.

I decided to walk further, until I came to a trail which led up a small mountain. I hiked all the way up, taking quick sips from my water bottle and short rests, so I didn't get fatigued.

I hiked up the rocky trail until I came to the top, where I could see almost to the mountains on the other side. I couldn't see people, but I could see a lot of trees and lakes. The closest lake to me was just a little further from the bottom of the mountain, in the opposite direction of the caves.

I made my plan to get there, when I saw a small lake on the other side of the cliff top. I ran over and scooped up water with my hands, my immediately dropped the water and jumped back. The water burned my skin. I got immediate blisters and scolds on my hands.

My hands still hurt to open and close, or hold anything, even my guitar, so I decided to stay up the mountain until my hands healed. No one else would go up there.

I slumped down on the stony ground and relaxed for a while, the sun shining on my face.

I daydreamed about what Edward was doing, probably not thinking about me as much as I thought about him.

It soon got extremely hot and I began to sweat, but I couldn't touch the water again. I took off my coat and jumper and rolled up my sleeves. The glistening water looked so cool and relaxing, but I pressured myself not to.

I heard voices getting louder, coming up the cliff.

I hid in between two huge rocks, so no one could see me.

"It's so hot, why can't we go back down?" A girl's voice asked

"I saw someone come up here, and I think it might be the district four girl. I need to kill her." A boy said

I guessed they were from district two, as they were so keen, but there was no way to be sure.

"Are you sure you saw her? There's no one up here!" the girl complained, bitterly.

The boy didn't reply

"Answer!" the girl threw a tantrum- definitely a spoilt brat from district two.

"Do you see that shadow, behind the rock? It looks like a person!" The boy whispered a bit too loudly "And do you see the lock of hair sticking out?"

"It's the girl from one!" She whispered, excitedly.

They crept over, and as they were, I noticed that their weapons were nowhere to be seen. Probably back at a base or something.

I knew I was dead meat, so I took my chances with the act of surprise.

I jumped out and ran towards them, screaming. I didn't want to kill them, I just wanted to escape, so when the boy grabbed me by the arms, I grabbed the girl's belt. She was pulled on top of him, and he fell on top of me.

I rolled out from underneath him and while they were getting up, I pulled them both by the hair and practically dragged them towards the lake.

"Why are you taking us to water? I thought you wanted to hurt us! Are you a chicken!?" the girl mocked me, but I only pulled her hair harder "Ow! If you don't stop pulling, my extensions will come out!"

Her comment only made me want to strangle her.

I shoved them both into the lake and, at first, they were fine, and I thought nothing was going to happen, but then they both collapsed in pain and struggled to move.

I ran and picked up my guitar and bag from the edge of the cliff. I strummed the guitar for them as they burnt every open part of their body

"You, with your words like knives and swords and weapons that you use against me,

You, have knocked me off my feet again, got me feeling like nothing," I sang

They turned red and spotty, so I decided to turn and run down the cliff before they came after me. I ran all the way down and turned towards the closest lake.

It wasn't too far and the trees concealed my path and kept me safe. I soon came to the opening where the lake was.

Another canon blasted. I hoped it wasn't either of the district two tributes, as I never wanted to kill them.

I was hiding by the lake, mid-afternoon, when two canons blasted. There must have been a fight somewhere.

Or it could have been Thomas and Priyanka.

That night I was camping out in the woods, next to the lake, up on a stable branch in a large oak tree, tied with the rope from my backpack, when the anthem came on and a large blue light appeared.

Four tribute's faces and names appeared that night:

The boy from district three,

The girl from district eight,

The boy from district eleven,

And the girl from two, who I figured that I killed.

I felt so sorry that night, as I never meant to kill her, or anyone. I never planned for this. I never planned on being a killer. I was just trying to defend myself. And she would have killed me if I didn't chuck her into the lake.

Hopefully she died of some other cause, like she was mauled to death by birds or something.

"The lesson I've learned the most often in life is that you're always going to know more in the future than you know now." I whispered to myself. My mother always used to say that to me before I slept. And I had finally understood the meaning.


	14. COMP!

**Hi everyone! I'm back from Wales and through that week with either no, or really poor internet access, I wasn't able to check or update any fan fiction!**

**But when I got back I checked my reviews and I had 90!**

**So I decided to have a little competition! The person who is:**

**a) The 100th reviewer**

**b) the nicest reviewer**

**or**

**c) the 99th reviewer!**

**Gets a character of themselves!**

**From any of these districts**

**District three –girl**

**District six – boy**

**District seven – boy**

**District eight – boy / girl**

**District ten – girl**

**District eleven – boy / girl**

**LET THE GAMES BEGIN!**

**IZZTHEWOLF IS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR THIS COMPETITION AS SHE ALREADY HAS A CHARACTER (SORRY)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry about the delay! I've been having a lot of writers block. :(**

**Anyway, I'll PM the winners of the competition: 'Daddy's no.1 girl', 'vampirevampirevampire' and 'electric socks' Well done guys! **

I woke up in the same branch of the oak, although I never remembered falling asleep, or a dream. I un wound the rope that was holding me up and jumped down from the tree, landing flat on my feet, knees bent and arms outstretched, the way I was always taught to.

The sun glinted through the trees and the birds were singing in the trees. Light shone onto the lake, and it almost looked as if I was in a fairy tale.

Like Snow White or Red riding hood. Except I realized that both those girls were also being chased down by a wolf or an evil witch… I, however, was being stalked by tributes.

A sparrow flew down and landed on the ground. He hopped around and pecked at the dry leaves on the floor to see if I left any scraps of food last night. I didn't though.

I looked up, to estimate the time, when I saw smoke from a fire. I guessed it was either a trick, to get the careers to stalk them, or it was an idiot twelve-year-old who was cooking a rabbit or something

I trekked through the trees in search of something to eat or drink. I was so thirsty, and my water had nearly run out. I didn't want to use up my iodine too quickly. Clean water in the future may be scarce.

While walking I remembered the silver chain around my neck. I held onto the little clover on the end and wished on it. It wasn't going to help, but it made me feel like I had company.

Which I did.

I heard a faint rustle of leaves from the tree to my left. I froze, and so did whatever was behind the tree.

"Edward?" I asked, and immediately felt a hollow pit in my stomach opened up and sucked me in. It wasn't Edward. He wouldn't have hidden "Whoever you are, come out now and I won't hurt you"

I threatened them, although I was never going to hurt them. I felt too guilty about the district two girl. Her family and district hated me. It's like I could feel the rays of hate from district two beating off their skulls and pinning me down into the guilt I felt.

_She_ emerged from the trees. Ella, the girl from district 4. I looked at her suspiciously, eyeing her every movement. She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot on the ground, waiting for me to say something.

"What have you stolen from me?" I demanded, in, what I tried to make it, a scary and powerful voice.

"I dunno…a few crackers, a drop of iodine… did you know you're a sleep talker?" she mocked me

"Do you know anything about Edward?" I asked, desperately

"No, but I _do_ know that you _didn't _kill that girl." She said.

We walked back to the lake together, and she told me all she knew.

Apparently I never killed the girl, she fell off the cliff top while she was still up there.

I was glad to know that I didn't kill her, but I wasn't happy that another had to die again.

We reached the lake, and immediately, Ella yanked my arm back.

"what? What is it?" I asked her, rubbing my arm. Her grip tightened around my arm, showing me how insecure she really was

"It's your partner, the guy from your district. He's there."

"Why did you pull me away then?" I asked eager to go to him

"He's with the district ten girl" the news made the pit in my stomach drop even further. I knew that it didn't have to mean what I was thinking, but I did see it that way. She was extremely pretty and he was with her.

I climbed a tree to get away from it all. I watched as Edward and the girl trailed off behind a corner. I waited until I was sure they were gone before I got out my guitar.

"I knew you were trouble when you walked in…." I strummed quietly.

Ella called up "Taylor are we allies now?"

"Yeah, I guess." I called back down

"Then could you help me find a place for our camp?"

I climbed back down and we searched for a place to set up. She had a tent, which I thought was probably one of the best things you could get.

We agreed to place the tent a while away from the lake, but not too far. We covered it with mud and leaves to conceal it in the woods.

We set up our sleeping bags and together we ate some of her catch. I wished for sunset to come quickly, as in the morning we will have survived another day.

Sunset came quickly, it seemed as though the game makers wanted to speed up this game. The dice doesn't roll fast enough, I suppose.

She got out the tent and went to see who died today. It was only the district six boy. I guess if there's only one death, then there isn't really a show. But if too many people die per day, I might one day be one of them. Actually, it's almost definite.

She sat down next to me and got into her sleeping bag.

"Try to get to sleep, and don't forget to avoid brushing against me during the night. I have a very specific personal space issue." She drew a line of mud and whispered "there's a line" before rolling over and tried to sleep.

I rolled over, facing her. She was facing the opposite direction, though. I rolled back over, and let my arm spread out across the tent's floor.

I accidentally touched her back with my fore-knuckle. Her shaken backbone stuck out of her skinny back. She came from district four, but she was unusually skinny.

"There's a line." She hissed at me, kicking my leg with hers. It was weird how claustrophobic she seemed. No one from the hunger games had ever been claustrophobic before. I didn't think so, anyway.

We didn't get asleep for a while; we stayed up chatting about stupid, girly things. I couldn't remember the last time I did have a sleep over. This was the first thing that even half counted as a sleepover. Even here. Now.

"So, is there something between you and Edward going on?" she asked

I stayed silent. I didn't want to tell her, or anyone, anything about my feelings.

"It's complicated." I eventually answered

"Does he like you back?" she said. I was beginning to get annoyed at all her questions

"No, he probably likes that girl." I said. I meant to say it without tone, but it came out as sounding jealous.

"You realize that he knows that they can't both survive." I knew, but I also knew that Edward couldn't survive either if I wanted to win the games.

"Well, I think we both know that none of this will end happily." I said "This is the type of game that doesn't have a happy ending. Even if you do win"

She mumbled something that I couldn't hear, then turned over and slept. I found out two things about her: 1- she had personal space issues 2- She twitched in her sleep.

The twitching lasted all night. It was very un-nerving. I eventually drifted off, secure in my camouflaged tent. I felt safe, or at least safer. There's no way to be safe here.


	16. Chapter 16

**Congrats to the winners again! This one is roughly sad, but you won't cry!**

In the morning, I awoke to the sound of really loud laughter, then realized that I was still in the hunger games.

"What-?" I asked, before Ella shoved her hand across my mouth

"Shush!" she shushed me "They're getting closer"

"Who?" I whispered

"Boy from district seven and boy from district eight" she whispered

"But we could kill them easily; we're careers!"

"Don't kill." She suddenly said, she looked at me, frowning, a serious expression planted on her face.

I knew I couldn't win without killing anyone. It's all part of the games. We can't just hide and let everyone else kill and die.

I stayed silent, until the footsteps and laughter had faded, and turned to whispers. They were right outside our tent. We could see the shadows, and could smell the mud and sweat, implanted on their skin.

"Are there people in there?" One asked. His voice was low, and masculine. I couldn't see them, so I had no idea how old they were, but this boy was definitely older than twelve. I hoped he was younger than us.

"I don't know… Why don't you check?" the other asked, also sounded pretty old.

"What if they're careers? We don't have weapons."

We carried on listening to their conversation, not moving a centimetre, until the zip of the tent slowly moved its way down the length of the tent's opening.

Light made its way through the hole that the zip was making. Getting lighter and lighter as the zip got further down.

Two blue eyed, blonde haired boys, both about fifteen, looked into our tent. Ella's dark blonde hair shone in the gleam of the sun, so she looked even more beautiful than she usually did.

"Hiya." She said, as if strange boys looked into her tent every day "What's your name?"

The boys looked at each other, strangely.

"How about we don't become allies, and just leave each other alone, as a neutral friendship" One said

"I don't think that should happen." She said, narrowing her eyes at them "You need weapons, and we need some boys to fight for us"

They looked at each other, and then back at us. They went round the back of the tent and started talking extremely loudly, arguing to be exact.

They quietened to a level which we couldn't hear.

They came back a little later and the one said "Sure, we'll help you, for now. But when things get tense, we split, right?"

I nodded "yeah, sure"

We shook on it. They had a tent too, but they hadn't set it up yet, so we had to help them .We set it next to ours, so if anything happened, they could hear us, or we could hear them.

"I'm Taylor." I said

"Yeah, we recognise you. You're the singing one." The boy said "I'm Gabriel, named after the angel. But I won't go easy on anyone." Gabriel had short blonde hair and slightly pale skin. He was quite tall and had bright blue eyes. He looked kind, and happy, and kept making jokes through the whole day.

"Ella." She said back, flatly. "I'm the one that you don't want to get too close with. I'm not as friendly as Taylor. And not nearly as likable"

The other boy replied "Lucas." He wasn't the talkative one. He also had blonde hair, and looked as though he could be Gabriel's brother if they were from the same district, and household.

He had shoulder length, blonde hair and grey-blue eyes. His skin was paler than Gabriel's but Gabriel worked in the labour district, where he spent more time outside than Lucas, who worked in a textiles factory, and nearly never went outside.

Gabriel also had bulky arms and body, from working in district seven, where they start work at a young age.

We put up their tent and got to gathering. We gave Gabriel Ella's axe, as he had worked with them in the labour district since he was about seven years old. I took my knife, and decided to be the one picking berries with Lucas, while Ella took the bow and arrow and hunted. I didn't know how she knew how to use it, but I didn't argue. I didn't like to argue.

While Ella was hunting with Gabriel, Lucas and I hunted for berries and any other edible fruits.

We bonded quite a bit while we were together. I learnt that he was turning sixteen tomorrow. That was probably the saddest thing I had heard. He might die on his birthday.

"Are you serious?" I asked, shocked

"Yeah" he looked away from me

"I'm sorry for you" I wished to disappear and float into the sky. I wanted him to turn sixteen some other time, not now. Not here.

"I think I can hear Ella calling us." He said, and we ran off to her

She had caught a deer. She also had three rabbits.

"We're going to have a feast tonight!" she congratulated herself.

I beckoned her to come to talk in private with me

We excused ourselves and talked, concealed in the trees.

"We should feast tomorrow." I told her

"Why?" she asked "We might not even live until tomorrow!"

"It's Lucas' birthday. He's turning sixteen. It's really the best birthday gift we could give him: a feast"

She agreed and cooked the deer. She cut it up and put the meat inside our bags, saving for tomorrow. We cooked the 3 rabbits and split it between us, each getting 3 quarters of a rabbit to keep us for until we catch more. I only ate a tiny bit, as I needed to save it for the future, when we were starving to death.

The cannon blew. Ella looked at me with a pained expression on her face.

"Who do you think it was?" asked Gabriel

We looked down. All our bets were on the district elven girl. She was definitely next. None of us said anything though. Death was a painful subject in Panem.

The sun set quickly, and we decided to get to sleep. The boys looked tired, and none of us wanted to stay up longer. We just wanted to leave this place, this hell, this graveyard.

I stomped out the last of the flames, and removed all the evidence. We walked back towards the tents. There was no one there, and no one had taken anything. No one had found us yet.

We got into our separate tents and lay down. The boys took the rabbit remains and we took the deer. Our camp wasn't going to keep us for long, as we were soon to be found. The anthem played, and tonight it was my turn to go see the deaths.

Gabriel was outside too. We stood together and watched the faces of the dead fade away into the sky.

The district two boy died.

The next face was Priyanka.

"No," I whispered, tears began to flow down my cheeks "Not her, she's only twelve"

"Taylor, it's okay" Gabriel took hold of my shoulders as I began to break down into floods of tears

"No! It's not okay!" I started to talk louder and louder

"Ssh! You'll give us away!" he warned me.

"I don't care. I'd rather die than see an innocent twelve year old die." I cried and sank to my knees. I put my head in my hands and sobbed into them

"Taylor, you have to listen to me." He said "You have to keep strong. One day you'll see your partner, what's his name…Edward. You'll see Edward up there. I've already seen Nell's. I could barely take it. She was only thirteen. I wished I never left her. But I left her, and she couldn't survive on her own."

I said nothing. He got up and went into his tent without a word more.

I stayed out for a while, longing for Priyanka to be here with me. I wanted to tell her it'll be alright. I wanted to tell her that I'll be with her soon.

There are only nine of us left.

I crept back into the tent, and told Ella the news.

She comforted me, and told me that she didn't die in vain. She was loved, and was cherished by all of us.

I settled into my sleeping bag, where I could be warm, and safe.

It wasn't warm though, it was an extremely cold night. The rain sounded like footsteps, so none of us could sleep with the worry that someone was out there.

It was my idea to take shifts. So I went first, with Gabriel. We took the weapons and sat in the rain, huddled together to consume the heat that was left.

We sat together, talking about Nell, his partner, and Edward, mine. Nell was his sister's best friend, so he knew her quite well. She was just thirteen, and he felt like it was his fault she died, as he went off without her, leaving her to fight for herself.

Edward was still out there, somewhere, and I knew he couldn't be too bad at fighting.

I sat there, dreading that the sound of the cannon will sound, and Ella's name or Gabriel's, Lucas' or Edward's name would come up on the sky, followed by the anthem.

The trees rustled, and the shadows played with our minds.

Gabriel stood up.

"Who's there?" he asked "Show yourself and we won't attack."

Nothing happened. He sat back down, and nothing else happened. Nobody came out. Nobody attacked.

It was Ella's turn with Lucas. I went back to the tent and gave Ella my weapons. She took them, and nodded at me.

I lay in the tent, listening to the distant mumbles of Ella and Lucas. I hated sleeping alone there, in the cold, dark night.

Tears started again. My breathing went static and fast. I was too loud. I heard Gabriel say my name from the other tent. The tents were so close together that I could see his torch light. The tent's sides were touching. I reached out and touched the side of the tent.

"I'm fine, just get to sleep, Gabriel" I told him

"I'm not going to get to sleep anyway, so I might as well talk to someone" he said. His voiced croaked

"I want to go home. I hate it here." I slowed my breathing, and tried to calm down

"We all do, Taylor" he told me

I said nothing again "Taylor," he said "I don't want Lucas to be outside. It's his birthday tomorrow, and I don't want anything happening to him."

"How old are you, Gabriel?" I asked

"I'm seventeen" he said "Why?"

"You seem really protective of Lucas"

"I've been his ally since the beginning. I want to keep him safe" he said "He's like my brother now."

I heard shuffling from inside his tent, and he opened his tent and swapped places with Lucas. I turned over and went to sleep.

The sun came up too quickly though.

I woke up, Ella sleeping next to me, nobody outside. I grabbed my guitar and sat outside. The heavy rain had gone, and in its place was a bright, shining sun.

"And I hope the sun shines and it's a beautiful day, and something reminds you, you wish you had stayed, we can plan for a change in weather and time

I never planned on you changing your mind"

**Crossing off Priyanka's name was really hard guys! I was like "nooooo!" but it had to happen! ;_ ;**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hi guys! Thanks for 104 reviews :) I never even dreamed of getting this many :')**

**Anyway, just to stop any confusion:**

**a) Taylor and Gabriel have NOTHING going on :)**

**b) Neither do Ella and Lucas :)**

In the morning, the sun shone brightly, consuming the tent in its warmth. I struggled out of my sleeping bag and crept outside, where no one was guarding. Everyone got too tired to stay up any longer.

I found Gabriel outside, picking and arranging flowers to spell out Lucas' name on the grass, just outside the tents.

"Need any help?" I asked, and he jumped.

"Gosh, Taylor, you scared me." He laughed, and handed me another knife to cut the flowers with.

"This is really sweet, what you're doing to make his birthday special" I said, and a smile spread across our faces with enthusiasm.

"Do you know if there were any deaths last night?" he asked me, tensely

"No, I don't think so. Ella was last on shift." I shook my head

We started arranging the flowers until they were perfect in shape, distance and scale.

We couldn't make a cake, but I brought out my last few crackers, eight of them, and spread Gabriel's cream over them.

We made a campfire and heated up the deer, until it was crispy around the edges. We heard Lucas coming out of his tent.

The zip made its way down the tent, and Lucas' bright-eyed face smiled out at us.

He noticed the flowers on the floor, and laughed. For once, he seemed speechless. He hugged us both tightly and said "where's Ella?"

She struggled out of the tent and tripped over a tree root. We all laughed at her and brought her and Lucas round the back of the tents to begin on our deer.

While we were eating the crispy, meaty deer, I mentioned the fact that we needed to move before someone found our camp.

"I agree." Said Gabriel "We should pack up and start looking for a new place to set our camp, and it should be far from here. I'm almost positive I heard voices last night."

"You're going mad, Gabe." Ella nudged him

"Hey, Ella," I said, she looked up at me and through her deer, she mumbled "yes"

"Us and Edward are the only careers left" I told her

"Oh, yeah, that's right!" she perked up

"What was the name of your tribute partner?" Lucas asked through a mouthful of a leg of deer

"His name was Jonathan." She looked down, sadly "Jonathan Anderson." We looked at her for more details, as it looked like she had some kind of connection with him "But I shouldn't ramble on about him, or me. It's Lucas we should be talking about! Happy birthday, Lucas, and may the odds be EVER in your FAVOUR!"

Once we were finished, we packed up both tents and stuffed them back into the bags. We put the left-over rabbit and deer into bags and separated the luggage between us. I carried my guitar and a few bags of meat.

We moved the flowers and we stomped out the fire pit to remove any signs that we were there, and then walked through the trees until we found the glistening lake. The sun reflected off of it and made it sparkle as if it were made of stars.

Each of us had a water bottle, which we filled up at the lake, then set off.

We had to keep moving until we found moist ground.

As we were walking we talked quietly, in case of being overheard. We stepped silently across the grassy floor, listening out for any noise.

"How long have we been walking for?" asked Lucas.

"About twenty minutes, now keep your voice down, don't scare away the animals." Ella whispered

We walked a few more paces, now onto a leafy floor, where autumn leaves had fallen; we walked on a ground of red, yellow and orange.

The leaves were noisy and made us slower, but it did pay off, as Ella shot two birds and a small rabbit.

We eventually all needed a break, so we stopped at took drinks of our water as Ella cleaned her kill and removed the arrows. The ground was already beginning to become moister as we got closer to the next lake.

Soon after, though, we heard yells coming from the way we came.

"We need to run." Gabriel said, as we all picked up our luggage and began to run, no matter how noisy.

Someone was running from something, or someone, and they were coming in our direction. We needed to get away, fast.

Lucas led us down a steep hill, where no one would find us, concealed in the trees. We had to stay off the path, and keep ourselves hidden in the greenery.

We slowed down as we got closer to the bottom of the hill. Gabriel put his arm out to stop us going any further "Ssh," he whispered "I hear voices"

We stayed completely silent, not daring to breathe, until I recognised the voice.

It was Edward.

I hear his voice, and immediately, all the tension rushed out of me in a sigh of relief. I started walking down the hill towards him.

"It's Edward" I said to the others as I walked down the hill with them

I started to run as the hill came to a stop. I could practically see his shadow moving around the trees. I got closer and my heard started thumping. What if he hated me for leaving him?

I peered through a gap in the trees, and sure enough it was Edward. He had the same swishy, brown hair and dark brown eyes.

There was a girl next to him, the district ten girl. She had long, dark brown hair tied up in a high pony tail on top of her head. She had dark freckles, dotting her nose and her cheeks, her rosy pink cheeks. She had slightly tanned skin and had a wound on her left arm, which she clutched in a dirty palm. She was sitting on the ground, next to Edward who was standing by her.

I pushed my way through the trees, he and the girl both turned around quickly. Edward looked shocked to see me. I was shocked to see him see me.

He ran to me and swooped me up in his arms into a gentle embrace. I closed my eyes, and felt his hands on my hair.

"I never thought I'd see you again, Taylor" he whispered

Ella, Gabriel and Lucas emerged from the trees. Ella looked at me, then at Edward, then back to me again

"Awww!" she cooed. We both stopped to look at her. My eyebrows rose at her. "Whoops. Ruined the moment" she said, backing away into the trees.

"Edward, I've been worrying so much about seeing your face up on the list of deaths" I said, pushing my face into his arm

He hugged me again, but this time it was a strong hug. His height made me fit perfectly in his arms and my neck fitted into his neck.

"It's weird," he laughed "you fit perfectly right there."

I laughed "Edward, you are definitely the only person in the world who could make a joke out of the games."

Edward finally noticed the two boys and girl standing, awkwardly behind us

He leaned into me again "Shouldn't we kill them soon? They're stopping us from winning."

I could not believe he said that.

How could someone like him, so sweet and trustworthy, say something like that? I walked away from him and went to stand with my true friends: the people who didn't have the guilt of someone else's blood on their hands.

**"Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also put them back together."**


	18. Chapter 18

**Don't hate this chapter. I'm tired, okay?**

"No, Edward." I frowned "These are my allies and friends" Ella rested her head in my shoulder. Gabriel and Lucas stood either side of us, subconsciously protecting the 'weaker' girls.

"I think we should go make camp somewhere else." I turned round and started to walk away.

"Taylor," Edward stopped me "Please, I'm sorry. I just can't lose you again. This might be our last moment together, and I'd hate myself if I saw your name up on the deaths. Should our final parting really be an argument?" he was right, even though I hated it when he was right, I had to give in.

We set up our camp next to his, but a bit further. We didn't want to make a commitment to someone I wasn't speaking to.

The sun was almost in the centre of the sky, and it was near enough to mid-day to go fetch some food and berries.

We all went in one big group, searching for our food.

We came to a clearing in the woods, where it seemed silent enough to tread.

I stepped forward onto the patch of green, grassy land, where there were berry bushes everywhere. It looked perfect.

But I was wrong.

As soon as I stepped forward, I heard a faint *click* and a heavy net dropped over me.

"Gabriel!" I called, as he had the knife. I struggled for freedom and struggled for air as the net pushed into my lungs, nearly suffocating me.

Gabriel knelt down at my side and calmed me down while Ella, Lucas and the district ten girl, Amanda, kept guard.

Edward knelt by me "Gabriel, pass me a knife" he said

"No," said Gabriel "leave her alone, I've got this"

Edward got back up, offended, and kept guard with Ella and the others.

Gabriel sliced through the thick ropes, which took longer than expected. His knife moved back and forth, the blade dangerously near to me. But I wasn't worried, as long as no one found us.

"Gabriel," I wheezed. He looked up, his blue eyes blurry from shadows. He stopped slicing for a second "I can't breathe under this net. It's suffocating me."

I tried to breathe slowly and cautiously, but the net kept pushing me. It curled around my neck, pushing into my throat. I could barely talk, but I knew I'd be out soon, and then we would have to go again.

I heard a rustle of a bush behind me, and heard the noise move around to where the others were standing, but before I had the breath to warn them, the district five boy darted out of the bushes and grabbed Ella by the throat.

He held a knife up to Ella's neck, the blade brushing against her skin. She squeezed her eyes shut, tight, and bit her lip.

"I'll do it." He said "I'll kill her" he dug the blade into her neck, but not far enough to make it bleed yet. She yelped out in pain

"Stop!" I wheezed, and tried to get out of the net

"What do you want from us?" Lucas asked

"I want to kill all of you" he threatened us. "Now leave the girl in the net, and fight."

He only wanted a fight. He wanted to impress.

He dropped Ella to the ground, as Lucas and Edward got out their weapons: an axe and a knife.

Ella knelt on the floor and clutched her neck. She vomited onto the pure grass, below her. She wiped her mouth, and bravely stood up without another word. She secretly took out a knife and began to advance towards the boy.

Edward and Lucas circled the boy. They occasionally lashed out, but with no success. The boy darted between them, teasing them, like bait.

Ella was a few steps behind him, so he couldn't stab her with his knife without throwing it. I wanted her to throw her knife at his back, but I knew that was a bad idea.

She did though. She pulled her arm back and chucked the knife forwards, landing in his back, the blade covered it's self in blood, and the boy keeled over, and then stood back up. He turned at Ella, now seizing with anger, pain, and blood.

I could see the flames behind his dying eyes, and I saw him clench his fist around the handle of the sharpened knife. He lifted it up, there was nowhere for her to hide, nowhere to run to, she was cornered by this hulk of a boy. Her eyes flickered with terror and anguish.

The next thing that happened was seen almost as if in slow motion.

The boy lifted his knife, and before falling to his knees in pain, he threw it. But someone got in the way.

Lucas jumped in front of Ella, taking the blade to his own stomach. He fell, and rolled onto his back. He gasped for breath.

I reached out for him, from behind the net; I could see crowded bodies around Lucas, who lay on the floor, the knife planted in him. Gabriel had seen nothing, as he was eagerly sawing the rope.

He had finally finished, and I struggled out of it. I ran to him, where Ella held his hand and whispered to him.

I stood above them, watching the moment.

She leaned over him, tears forming in her eyes, but not daring to drip down her rosy cheeks.

"Lucas," she said "don't you dare die. Don't, I won't let you!"

Lucas smiled at her, no, grinned at her. His smile reached his whole face.

"It was never meant to be me. This was never my show. Never my game." He started to fade, but his smile stayed full "this is your game now, Ella."

He grinned at her, the sparkle in his eye still there.

He relaxed, and his glistening eyes faded into cold, dead eyes. His smile turned back. And he breathed his final breath.

"No," Ella said

"Ssh, it's okay," I tried to comfort her

"No. It's not okay!" she shouted at me. I backed away from her. Everyone did.

She picked up the bloody knife that was Edward's murderer. She threw it as hard as she could and put her face in her hands.

Two cannons blew.

We all went back to the camp, where we stayed in silence, trying to take in the moment, except Ella and Gabriel, who stayed back and held Lucas' body until it was time that the capitol had to take him back to his district.

None of us ate that night. Through the horror of the moment, no one could eat. No one was hungry after seeing such a terrifying sight.

I climbed into my tent and tried to figure out what happened. How was I going to live with myself? If it wasn't for my stupidity, getting trapped, Lucas wouldn't have died… on his birthday.

I put my face in my hands and cried. It was my entire fault.

Edward whispered from outside the tent "Taylor, I need to talk to you"

I came out, and dried my eyes. Everyone was in their tents and the sky was already dark, really dark.

He sat down with me and began talking.

"Taylor, I'm sorry for what I said, earlier. I didn't mean to hurt you" he apologized

"It's okay, Edward. I'm not mad anymore. I…" I trailed off

"What is it? You can tell me anything"

I didn't want to say it. Instead, I leaned in and put my mouth onto his. And I kissed him. His lips were so warm, and I loved him for that moment, until it ended.

He said nothing, and got up. He went back to his tent, leaving me alone in the dark.

I crept back and grabbed my guitar.

"I'll spend forever wondering if you knew,

I was enchanted to meet you

Please don't be in love with someone else,

Please don't have somebody waiting on you"

**OOOOHHHH! Read on to the next chapter, which I'll be uploading sometime soon :) tah tah!**


	19. Chapter 19

**End of half term hu? Yeah...**

In the morning, I woke up to find myself lying on the floor, next to my guitar. I got up and noticed the tents to my left. I must have fallen asleep while writing a song.

I walked back to the tents, sleepily. I was still half asleep, so when I entered the tent, I barely noticed that Gabriel was no longer there.

I looked around for him, now more awake and alert. I shook Ella open, her eyes and cheeks were crusted with dried tears. She reached for her knife, and came out with me.

We frantically began searching the surroundings for Gabriel. Wherever he was, he definitely had his weapons and some food. They were also gone.

We shouted his name, daring someone to come out and help. Edward came out from his tent, also half asleep.

"What is it? Why are you screaming?" he yawned, stretching his long, muscular arms in front of him.

"It's Edward," Ella replied, hurriedly "He's gone"

The two words "_he's gone"_ stunned Edward, and he stood there blinking for a moment, before immediately going off to search for Gabriel.

Ella turned to me and looked, seriously into my eyes "Taylor," she said, I nodded "do you remember when we first made alliance with Gabriel? He said 'when things get tense we split', right?"

I nodded, and frowned

"I think the alliance split"

I nodded and turned to Edward "If he's not here by tonight, then it means the alliance has split."

A sudden gust of wind blew as a capitol blimp flew above us. Another tribute must have died during the night.

My curly blonde hair blew into my face and made me notice that it wasn't really blonde anymore. It had turned a dark yellow colour, from the mud and the blood.

At that moment, Edward's ally, Amanda, came out of the tent, and I finally got to see her fully. She had a rectangular face with a defined, slightly pointed chin and sturdy jaw line. He dark, clouded hazel eyes were quite big, and evenly spread either side of her nose. Her hair was parted further right of her head, and rested softly on her shoulders. Her eyebrows curved, sharply upwards, over her eyes. Her button nose was a medium length, and pointed upwards a little bit, and below her nose was her pale lips, like a slit in her face, continually pursed.

She was the same height as me, and a bit taller than Ella. Her thin waste led to her lanky skeletal limbs. Her arm had a slit in it, from where she must have been in a fight. It was crusted with dirt and dried blood.

She licked her lips before speaking "What's going on?"

"Gabriel's gone. We have to carry on as usual though" Edward explained.

I was really hungry, because I hadn't eaten in a while, as yesterday's hunting trip didn't go too well. Ella and I went off hunting, while Amanda and Edward stayed guard.

We walked through the trees, and when we got far enough from the camp to talk in private.

"Hey, Taylor" Ella asked, while walking "did you know that Amanda gave herself the injury?"

"What?!" I asked, shocked. Who would injure themselves here? Does she want to die? There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but she started talking again.

"She couldn't live with herself after killing someone." She nodded "The district five boy, Nathan. She said she had no choice"

"That's kind of sweet, in a way" I thought. She was innocent for someone in the hunger games. Everyone else was so much more brutal.

"I also heard you and Edward last night." She dug her elbow into my ribs, playfully. I pushed her away, giggling.

"Hey," I laughed "Aren't we supposed to be gathering food?"

We finally finished after an hour of searching. The game makers were making it difficult to hunt. These games are getting long.

We were on the way back when a blur of pink, black and brown fell from a tree, almost hitting us.

She was a rosy cheeked girl with light, curly blonde hair, falling down past her shoulders. Her brilliant blue eyes stared right through us. The twelve year old girl from district eleven stood in front of us, quivering with fear.

"Please d-don't h-hurt m-me-e" she hid behind the tree

"It's okay, we're not gonna hurt you" Ella said, softly. She was better with children that I thought "But we might eat you, or feed you to the ferrets…"

I was wrong.

The little girl gasped, and Ella laughed. "Sorry, I was kidding. You can come with us"

The girl came out from behind the tree, slowly. I held my hand out to her and she took it, with a sigh of relief.

"Do you have food?" she asked, faintly

"Yeah, are you hungry?" I said, handing her a bit of leftover rabbit "We have three more rabbits and two birds to cook when we get back. What's your name?"

"I'm Sasha" she smiled up at me "I'm from district eleven. I'm twelve"

"I'm Taylor, and this is Ella." I said, gesturing to Ella

When we got back to the camp, Edward came up to me and pulled me away

"Taylor," he said, his warm breath on my face, "We can't have her here. She'll slow us down."

"We can't just leave her!" I argued "Look, I've left young children alone before and Priyanka died."

He nodded "But she's got this far, can't she just go the rest of the way?"

"No." I said, and that was it.


	20. Chapter 20

**This is the last time I'm writing on this story. It's been really fun, and getting 128 reviews was really a lot more than I ever wanted, but my story isn't allowed on fanfiction any more because I'm not allowed to have a character that is a real person (actor, musician, singer...etc)**

Entries not allowed:

Stories with non-historical and non-fictional characters: actors, musicians, and etc.

**This story will be up for another week or so, but then it will be gone and wiped of the face of the internet.**

**Sorry :'(**


	21. Chapter 21

**Thank you so much:**

**petronka101 ****6/5/13 . chapter 25**

Please do not delete your story, you will just make things easier for those bullies from Critics United. I am happy to tell you as of today the administrators from FFnet are not taking them seriously.

**I don't know what's happening to this story, but until it gets forced down, I will keep writing this.**

In the morning I woke up with Sasha inside my sleeping bag with no idea how she got there.

I struggled out of the cramped sleeping bag, trying not to wake her. She looked like an angel in the sunlight.

I didn't know who died that night, but I wasn't going to be surprised if it was Thomas. He's lasted so long already.

Ella was already up, I heard her singing from outside the tent.

"I never saw you coming, and I'll never be the same" she sung with the voice of an angel

I recognized the song as one of my songs.

"This is a state of grace, this is the worthwhile fight, love is a ruthless game unless you play it good and right."

I came out of the tent, which stank of sweat, and blood. Just like most of our clothes and skin. She turned around and stopped singing when I came up to her.

"How do you know that song?" I asked

"You were singing it on your balcony one night at the tribute hotel. I listened and I liked it. That's why I sing it" she said "Where's Edward"

I sighed "I don't even know where he is anymore. His old self has gone." I said, though I knew what she meant.

I turned and went Back to wake up Sasha, Edward and Amanda. I took hold of Edwards wrist and dragged him far into the wood until I was sure we were lost.

"Taylor, what is it?" he asked, his dagger-like eyes pressuring me further.

"Where are you, Edward?" I asked

"What do you mean 'where am I'" he frowned "I'm right here"

"No, the person standing in front of me is not Edward. Edward was the guy who I sat outside with and sang to, while he hung his long hair down into his lap; Edward was the guy who called me 'hot'; Edward was the guy who asked me what being fearless is" I breathed heavily "You are not Edward"

I walked away from him, hot and heavy. I wanted to disappear. I heard his crunching footsteps behind me, his silent breaths. I had never heard any silence quite that loud.

When we got back, Ella tried to torment me with "finally back from your kiss-fest?"

I ignored her and walked straight past her. I took my guitar and climbed a tree. I got to a high branch and placed my fingers on the fingerboard. My quivering fingers never seemed to touch the strings though.

I heard their loud argument from below, between Ella and Edward.

"Why do you do this Edward?" she shouted at him. He mumbled something back, but I was too far away to hear anything. She yelled again "can't you see she likes you?"

I felt myself going red, redder than red. I felt my cheeks warming to the highest temperature possible. I felt my hair stick to the top of my scalp.

I jumped down, catching my arm on a twig. I pretended it didn't hurt though. I walked towards the group of unfortunate allies.

"We're going hunting." I said, and picked up my knife

"But we have loads of food." Ella complained. I gave her a look, and walked on.

"Who died yesterday?" I calmed down enough to ask her

"Just the district nine boy, Thomas was his name I think." I wasn't surprised, but I wasn't going to break down in floods of tears. I kept strong, I kept thinking positive.

As we walked on, we suddenly heard screaming. It was a girl screaming. We looked at each other in shock. We ducked down behind different bushes and trees in pairs. I was next to Amanda, who was breathing heavily. She had her head hung and she closed her eyes as she tried to calm down.

"Amanda," I whispered "it's okay, they aren't here"

"They're so close though, Taylor" She whispered back.

I kept behind the bush with her, as the others got up. They walked over and helped us up. Amanda wasn't as tough as I thought she was. I looked at her and smiled. She smiled back and I nodded at her.

We didn't speak of this later. We didn't speak of it again.

We carried on walking through the woods, but in the opposite direction. We didn't catch anything. Not a single bird was chirping. And uncomfortable silence filled the air.

"This is pointless." Sasha complained "Let's go back"

We all agreed and went back towards the tents. We found the clearing where we set it up, but there was someone else there.

A boy, about my age, was searching through the tents, looking for weapons, though he seemed to have plenty swung across his back and in his pockets and no doubt some hidden away in his jacket.

Ella pulled us all away from the camp, taking small, silent steps. She leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, her warm breath tickling my cheeks, "I have the weapons, it's okay."

"We need to get out of here" I whispered, panicked.

The trees rustled in the wind, making the boy turn round, facing in our direction. He could see us for sure, the five of us weren't hidden enough.

The boy laughed an evil, demonic laugh, as if he were possessed by the devil.

"Come out." He beaconed, sniggering at our vulnerability. We stayed where we were. "Come out!" he forced us "Or I'll have to come and get you"

We reluctantly moved forward.

Sasha, who stood next to me, grabbed my sweaty palm and held it tightly as he walked towards us. Ella secretly handed me a knife, which I passed down the line to Edward. She handed us different weapons, except Sasha, who we didn't want to give a weapon. She was too young to hold a knife, let alone stick it in someone's back.

I was left with a reasonably long and sharp knife, which I hid up my sleeve. He walked closer towards us and walked along the line, as if inspecting us, until he came to me, where he stopped.

He looked at me with big hazy eyes. I looked back, sharply, determined not to look weak. He lunged at me with an open hand and grabbed my arm. He pulled me forward, squeezing my arm with tense, ready fingers.

He held my muscle so tight it ached with pain, longing to be set free. He lifted a knife to my neck, forcing my chin upwards. I breathed cautiously, short, fast breaths escaping my lips.

In that moment, I wondered how many people were rooting for me, and out of that number, how many people had given up on me. I wondered about Harry. Where he was and whether he was watching me with close eyes.

"Let her go" Edward shouted, taking large steps forward. The boy dug the knife into my neck further, cutting the skin a tiny bit.

"One more step, and your friend is dead." Edward froze. He stepped back into the line of my allies. Tears seeped from my eyes as blood escaped my neck. It wasn't deep, and was too numb to feel pain though.

He struck the knife across my forehead.

The boy threw me to the ground and I rolled over onto my back, coughing and spluttering. I clutched my head and looked at my red tinted hands.

I looked up for a moment, seeing someone else drop to the ground. It was Edward. I reached for his body, sprawled over the leafy ground. He wasn't dead, but he was hurt, I could tell.

I got up from the ground and wiped the blood off my hands. I felt dizzy, and all I could see was a faint blur of blood and faces.

But before I collapsed to the ground, I saw tears streaming down Sasha's terrified face. She was lying on the ground, below the boy. He towered over her and lifted his knife. But before he could do anything, Amanda grabbed the boy and tried to stop him, while Ella struck his temple with her knife. He lashed out at Amanda, sending the knife straight into her belly.

The last thing I saw was Amanda fall to the ground and close her beautiful, hazy eyes into eternal sleep.


	22. Chapter 22

**A rather short chapter, but I have writer's block so don't judge :(**

I woke up in the tent, with Edward sitting before me, dabbing my forehead and neck with a damp strip of material.

I sat up and immediately fell back down. My head seized with hot pain right at the point where I was cut. My neck had heeled into a scab, but I was still bleeding a bit from my forehead.

"You've recovered quickly" Edward said, emotionless

"How long was I out?" I asked

"About an hour. Your wounds aren't deep."

"What happened to Amanda?" I asked. He said nothing. He just looked down and sighed

That was when the feeling sank in. I didn't want to miss her like that though, someone I barely knew, yet, someone I was such good friends with. I wanted her to come back and be here, next to me, laughing and smiling with me again.

I played it back a thousand times in my mind. Like a whisper, I remembered her dead body falling to the ground, her cold eyes closing, never to open.

I wished for the ground to open and swallow me up. I wanted to get out of here.

My head burned, and I was surely bruised, but I wanted to see Ella and Sasha, to see if they were okay.

I stood up and began to open the tent. Edward grabbed my arm "Don't. You're not okay. Anyway, the others have gone hunting." I sighed and lay back down. He dabbed my forehead with the cold, wet material.

"Can I get my guitar?" I asked.

"It's next to you" I noticed my guitar, propped up against the side of the tent. I picked it up and my fingers found the strings and places almost by themselves. My mouth found the words to the new song as easy as knowing the lyrics to your old favourite song.

"And this is when the feeling sinks in,

I don't wanna miss you like this,

Come back... be here, come back... be here."

Edward sat and listened while I played

"Taylor," he said, when I had finished "What is fearless?"

I looked at him, "Why do you keep asking?"

"You'll get it soon." He said, and then I lay down, and we didn't say another word until Ella and Sasha got back.

They both had solemn faces from the tragedy that happened just an hour ago. They handed over three birds and two squirrels to Edward, who went off to cook them.

Ella and Sasha sat either side of me and patted my back

"Taylor," Ella said "How will any of us win if we don't split soon?"

I nodded "I want to stay with you;" I said to her "You're like my best friend."

I looked into her familiar face and I wanted her to live. I was afraid to see her beautiful blue eyes cloud over with the face of death. I hugged her, pulling her into my body and smelling her familiar smell. I had only lived with her for a week and I already know so much about her.

Ella smiled, and took Sasha's hand. They left the tent and Edward returned.

He sat next to me and put his arm around me. I rested my head on his shoulder.

I began to feel dizzy "Taylor," he said "I…" but I didn't hear the rest. I fell asleep on his shoulder, into a deep, dark sleep, where my worst nightmares came alive. Until I woke, where my even worse nightmares came alive.

**Comment plzzz**


	23. Chapter 23

I awoke to Ella opening the tent. As my eyes adjusted to the immediate brightness, I noticed that Ella was screaming.

"GET UP TAYLOR!" I got up and got my guitar and backpack, "THE FOREST IS ON FIRE" she yelled.

Everyone panicked immediately. I took my sleeping bag and we ran away from the fire, leaving out tents to burn with the fire. Sasha and Edward ran either side of me whilst Ella ran ahead. I quickly shoved the sleeping bag into my backpack and swung it over my back while keeping a tight grip on my guitar. With my only spare hand, I clung to Sasha's little hand, not daring to let go.

We ran straight through the trees, with orange and bright red flames, engulfing us in the heat. Capitol-made balls of fire flew centimetres from my head, narrowly missing each of us.

While trees collapsed all around us, blocking out our paths, we headed straight for the lake. We were just meters from the lake when a think-stumped tree fell down, just missing Ella. She screamed and changed direction.

I had no idea where I was going, but I trusted Ella to keep us safe. A fireball whooshed past me, causing me to jump to the side, letting go of Sasha's hand. I had to keep my eye on where I was going, so my hand never reached Sasha's again.

We darted through the trees, dangerously near the flames, choking and gaging on the black smoke we ran through. I gasped for air, but only got a mouthful of smoke. I was captivated by the flames, utterly defenceless. We ran as fast as we could through the trees until Ella dived onto the ground and we followed as a flame shot straight over our heads. We reached a stumped tree, where Ella sat and leant against for a second.

This was when I noticed the burn across her shoulder. We needed medicine, and I needed to get it. We needed sponsors to get medicine.

A flame of red, yellow and orange headed towards us at a tremendous speed, and we only just dodged it.

We stumbled down a long, steep hill and all of us tripped and flew straight to the bottom, where, thankfully, a lake sat, almost as if placed there purposefully. Without second thoughts, we dived into the lake and sighed.

"Ella," I asked "are you okay?"

"Ah," she gasped for air "Do I look okay?" she said, sarcastically

"Do I look like a doctor?" I retreated

"I'm not okay." Tears seeped through Ella's eyes as she dipped her wounded shoulder into the water. She breathed in deeply through her nose, taking thorough and slow breaths.

After three or four seconds, she looked up at me "Taylor," she smiled "This won't kill me, I'm fine"

She was so brave to say that, and as she did, a metal case attached to a mini parachute floated down and landed next to the wall.

I took the parachute off it and read the label

'Medicine' it said 'applies to burnt or harmed skin'

I cheered with laughter "We must be the luckiest tributes alive!"

Ella lifted her shoulder out of the water and I opened the jar of thick, yellow-ish cream. It smelt like ocean salts. I scooped some of the wet cream into my fingers and dabbed it onto Ella's burn. She jolted when the cold, wet cream touched her skin, but she settled afterwards and allowed me to rub it into the blood-red wound.

"Um," Edward said, looking around "Where's Sasha…?"

My heart almost tore through my chest as cannon fire blasted my eardrums. . . .

Ella swore silently, under her breath "Did she get caught in the fire?"

I climbed out of the lake "SASHA?!" I called

We all walked through the burnt out forest, searching every hidden corner for her. I convinced myself she was hiding and yelled out "THIS ISN'T FUNNY"

We searched for ages, picking up rubble and stepping over blackened trees and ashes.  
Edward was the one to find the small, limp body under a fallen log. Her face was so burnt it was almost unrecognisable. Her hand was still cupped as if it was holding my hand even now.

Tears fell in puddles onto the ashes below us, wetting her face with salty tears. He misty eyes looked upwards blankly, not even seeing anymore. I held her sweet face in my hands and closed her eyes.

My thoughts wondered through my brain, thinking about her family, who were mourning for their little girl back. She didn't deserve this horrible death. She was too young to die.

_Too young to die_

Were the words etched on the pebble we placed in her outstretched hand. We stood together, hand in hand, and looked over the young face of our friend.

"She's in a better place now." Ella choked on tears "With Amanda and Jonathan and Lucas."

We turned around and walked away from Sasha's body of ashes.

"Who was Jonathan?" I asked Ella

"He was the boy from my district." She began "We used to play together as young kids. But then we grew apart as we separated in high school. I loved him."

"We used to sit together in some subjects, and he loved art almost as much as I loved him. He had beautiful blue eyes, and if I could, I would stare into his eyes for as long as they stay open."

She looked down, embarrassed

"But he knew me, and he knew when something was very wrong, and I always thought that he could secretly hear my every thought."

She looked up, her eyes blurry with tears

"He told me he loved me on the last night at the hotel, but never had a chance to speak to me again" she lowered her voice to a whisper "You're lucky to have each other" she said to me and Edward

We looked at each other, his eyes glinting with ghosts from the past. His mouth curving slightly at the tip, like half a Mona Lisa, and his nose scrunching at the tip, as if a sneeze that never came.

And at that very moment, the trees rustled behind us. Though, there was no wind that could have caused the movement.

We shot into a ready position for whoever could emerge from the trees.

Gabriel pushed his way through the trees and stood, stone-faced in front of us. In one hand, he had a clenched fist, ready to hurl a punch. And in the other: a razor sharp dagger.


	24. Chapter 24

**Sorry guys, I had loads of tests and stuff. I will be uploading a lot more now though I PROMISE!**

Gabriel's breaths were angry and deep, and he tightened his grip on the dagger. We all took a slow step backwards, and started running, for are lives were at the hands of a part friend and future enemy.

"Taylor!" I heard Ella call to me

I called back "Ella, are you okay?"

"Yeah, but he's not chasing us." She said. I looked back, and sure enough, he was not chasing us. I slowed to a jog and caught my breath back.

"Where did he go?" I steadied my breath

"I don't know…" Ella frowned "He walked away, I guess."

It was so strange, almost too strange to be real.

I saw a rustle of leaves behind Edward, and a dark shadow moved across the trees behind him "EDWARD!" I yelled, and he dived out of the way, just barely missing the dagger blade that lunged towards him.

We stood together, Edward, Ella and I breathed in sync, and when Gabriel emerged, I took out my knife and we all took him on at the same time, pinning him to the floor. I sat on his chest, holding a knife to his neck.

I almost did it. I almost killed him, but I couldn't bring myself to kill him "I can't" I said, getting up, wiping tears off my cheeks.

Gabriel got up too, and looked around at us, eyeing each one of us. I guessed he was deciding who to kill first.

He dropped the dagger on the ground, letting his fingers stretch out. But he still said nothing.

"Gabriel are you oka-" I started, but didn't have time to finish before he jumped on Edward and wrung his hands around Edward's neck, pushing in his Adam's apple.

Ella pounced on him, like a jaguar, and punched him with her bare hands. She didn't have a knife.

I stood, completely frozen in the spot, while Edward turned purple and choked for air. My knife fell out of my hand and my head started spinning. Gabriel released Edward as Ella pushed him away and pinned him to the ground.

I heard my name being called, but I just stood there, blankly.

Gabriel clutched the knife I dropped and he sank it, firmly into Edward's stomach. Edward cried out in pain.

That was when I moved. I ran towards Gabriel and grabbed Edward's pocket knife. I gave Gabriel what he deserved: death.

Tears ran down my face as I knelt over Edward. A pool of blood started forming around him. Tears dropped onto his shirt and face, and I realized they were mine.

I was right before his eyes, and I was breaking. I was shattering as I knelt forward and placed my mouth onto his and kissed him.

As I held him in my arms, he whispered to me "Taylor," I could hear the strain in his voice "What is fearless?"

"Fearless isn't the absence of fear, it is having the fear, but not being afraid to jump" I said, while holding back tears that came out anyway

"Thank you." He said, and a loud breath escaped him.

His eyes clouded over and his breathing went still.

"Edward," I cried into his chest "I love you, Edward"

I stood up and lunged at Gabriel's body. I punched his pale face and kicked his side. I couldn't hurt him anymore, but it felt good to kick such a devil.

"I HATE YOU" I yelled at him over and over again "ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?"

Ella jumped at me and took hold of my arms and dragged me away, kicking and screaming and crying.

She dragged me through the trees, not even letting me see Edward for the last time before he was taken back to the district

"NO!" I screamed "STOP!"

She took me back to the burnt out forest, where I couldn't reach Edward or Gabriel.

Tears stained my cheeks and my eyes were blood-shot. Ella's were too, but she didn't know Edward like I did. I was holding him too tight to let go of him.

She calmed me down eventually, and we were talking normally for a while, about how I felt and how she felt, but then there was an uncomfortable silence when we were both lost for words at this tragedy.

"It's hard to fight when the fight isn't fair." I said.


	25. Chapter 25

******I just want to say that I've received many comments saying how my story is "breaking the rules"**

**I don't care.**

**So just stop. Any comments like that will be ignored, and I also want to say that all the haters are really getting on my nerves. Does it bring you joy to comment like that? Does it give you some kind of disturbed happiness?**

**Well, if you have hated on this story, just know that YOU HAVE NO IMPACT ANY MORE.**

**Ella's POV**

_I woke to the sound of Taylor, singing again. I knew she'd sing, but she hadn't stopped singing since the sky grew dark and images of Edward haunted our minds. _

_"You took a swing, I took it hard, and down here from the ground I see who you are."_

_The strange collection of lyrics seemed to make sense, if they were sung from the point of view of Edward. _

_Images of Edward and Gabriel flashed through my mind in a kaleidoscope of memories. I wanted this to end. _

_Taylor didn't notice when I touched her shoulder. She was distant, and had a far-away look in her eyes, as if she just saw through me. _

_"Taylor," I said, concerned_

_She shook herself out of the daydream, and looked up at me, squinting from the sunlight "Yeah?" she said_

_"Are you- I mean- are you okay, Taylor?" I asked_

_"I want to die." She said, and looked down at her shining guitar for which I was very jealous. _

_I wished I was talented like she was._

_We collected our few belongings together and set off on a walk to find food and water. _

_Taylor obviously wasn't okay. She was quiet and pale; the glisten in her eyes had clouded over as if she was already dead. She had dark shadows under her eyes from lack of sleep and lagged behind me while we walked._

_She didn't say a word through the entire time we searched. I collected berries and skewered birds with my arrows while she stood, as motionless as a statue. _

_We came to a hill, where we had to travel down a steep slope. We clung to trees and skidded on the heels of our worn out and tired shoes._

_"Taylor," I said "If you don't say something, I'll leave." _

_She turned to face me, but her mouth stayed shut. I saw tears form in her eyes and slide down her rosy red cheeks._

_"I loved him" She walked towards me "you don't understand. I loved him."_

_I stretched my arms out to her, about to embrace her. I wanted to comfort her, but she just pushed past me and walked off. She didn't even know where she was going._

_"Taylor," I called to her. _

_She turned around and looked to me "You don't get it, Ella." _

_She darted around, and I instantly knew something was wrong. I silently ran towards her, and grabbed her shoulder. I tried to pull her away before something happened, but before I could move her away, I giant, black dog lunged at me. _

_I only had a bow and arrow; my knife was in my backpack. My bow was no use to me when I had a giant mutt on top of me. _

_The dog sunk its claws into me, piercing my pale skin. I screamed in pain, and in fear. The feeling sparked and sent pain shooting through my arm until it went numb. I struggled under the weight of the mutt, while Taylor searched through her backpack for a weapon. _

_The mutt's claws scratched at my face and arms, leaving my writhing in seizing pain. _

_Taylor had her axe, which she must have taken from Gabriel._

_She lifted it above her head and took a deep breath while the angry mutt opened its jaw. It was only centimetres from my neck; I could smell its warm, stinky breath._

_Taylor swung the axe down and planted it in the mutts' body. The dog howled in agony, and too one last swing at me, before lunging, now seizing with hot, furious anger._

_It sunk its sharp canines into my hip. _

_I screamed, paralyzed by the terrible agony that the mutt left me in, before slumping on the ground next to me._

_"ELLA!" Taylor screamed and ran to me_

_I looked at my hip, and nearly fainted. Muscle had been torn off and blood spewed out onto the grass below me. I clutched at my eaten hip, and groaned, before immediately rolling over and vomiting. _

_Taylor took hold of my face "Ella," she cried to me "Ella, no!" _

_"Taylor, you can do it without me" I struggled, and gasped for air. My lungs were failing me, and my heart was quickening._

_"no, no Ella. I'm not going to do this without you" her salty tears dripped onto my face "Everyone I've trusted has died, not you, no not you Ella!" _

_I was close to fading. White light grew bigger in my vision. Taylor's screams faded to a gentle drone and I was losing my breath. _

_"I love you, Taylor" I managed to tell her, before being completely covered by white light._

_I only managed to hear one word in everything that Taylor was saying_

_"Please"_

_I was gone. I felt the light slowly disappear_

_ and_

_ My_

_Heartbeat_

_Stopped._


End file.
